Analysis of clinical characteristics of 5 cases of bisphosphonate associated atypical femoral fractures / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with bisphosphonates related atypical femoral fractures(AFFS), thereby to facilitate early diagnosis.Methods:The clinical manifestations, biochemical indexes, imaging features and treatment follow-up of AFFS patients who were diagnosed in the Department of Osteoporosis and Bone Disease, the Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University from 2011 to 2019 were analyzed retrospectively, and the literature was reviewed.Results:A total of 5 cases of atypical bisphosphonate related femoral fractures were collected, all of them were female, with an average age of 68 years. All the 5 patients were treated with alendronate. Three patients were treated with 70 mg/week throughout the course, and two patients were treated with 10 mg/day at first, and changed to 70 mg/week later. The average course of treatment was 8.7 years, ranging from the shortest 5 years to the longest 17 years. Among the 5 cases, the shortest onset time was 3 years after taking medicine, and the longest was 16 years. The clinical features are as follows all patients had prodromal pain before fracture which was characterized as dull except for case 4. Case 1 was bilateral thigh pain, the rest were unilateral thigh pain, which began to appear within 2-3 years before fracture. X-ray plain film showed thickening of the lateral bone cortex; radionuclide bone scan(ECT) showed active bone metabolism in the affected area. The abnormal manifestations of ECT were earlier than X-ray and MRI. The recognition of these features is helpful to the early diagnosis of AFFS. All 5 patients stopped bisphosphonates immediately, and continued to take calcium tablets. Active vitamin D was added to 4 cases. One case of incomplete fracture was treated conservatively with Teriparatide for one year, which was helpful to deter it from becoming complete fracture. 4 cases of complete fracture were treated with reduction and fixation, and all healed.Conclusion:Long-term use of bisphosphonates can increase the risk of AFFS. Strengthening the risk assessment during use can reduce the incidence of such fractures. Early diagnosis and reasonable treatment can improve the prognosis.