Bone Abstracts

Background: Treatment with orally administered ibandronate is an effective way to increase bone mineral density (BMD) and reduce fracture rate in post-menopausal women and in men with osteoporosis. There are only very few reports concerning ibandronate therapy in children/adolescents, and in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), as bisphosphonates are off-label drugs in pediatrics.

Case presentation: We present two patients with OI type I (14 year old boy and 11 year old girl, both with history of prevalent low-energy-trauma fractures) where once-monthly oral ibandronate (150 mg tablets) plus cholecalciferol 1000 IU/day and calcium 1000 mg/day increased spinal BMD (DXA-Lunar) after one year of therapy by 41% (from Z-score −5.1 S.D. to −2.9 S.D.) and 31% (Z-score −3.0 S.D. to −1.8 S.D.), respectively, without any occurrence of new fractures or adverse reactions. There were no alterations in the laboratory parameters that were assessed every three months and also no dental problems, neither gastrointestinal irritation. The treatment is still ongoing.

Conclusion: Once-monthly oral ibandronate increased BMD and most probably improved bone quality in pediatric patients with OI.

What is new.

• One year treatment with once-monthly oral ibandronate resulted in an impressive increase in spinal BMD in individual patients with OI.

• No new fractures occurred.

• The oral ibandronate therapy was well tolerated without any adverse events or adverse reactions.

Disclosure: The authors declared no competing interests.