Jaw lesion and discomfort

Prevention and management of osteonecrosis of the jaw secondary to bone-targeted therapy in patients with kidney cancer

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The aim of this revision is prevention and management of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) secondary to bone-targeted therapy in patients with kidney cancer.

RECENT FINDINGS

Patients with kidney cancer treated with zoledronate suffered from ONJ earlier compared with patients with breast cancer or multiple myeloma; among men, ONJ occurred at 24 months of zoledronic acid treatment in more than 80% of the patients and much earlier, in respect to patients with prostate cancer or multiple myeloma. Protective factors against an ONJ can be sequential prescription of different bisphosphonates and female sex. Less data are available on ONJ secondary to denosumab administration in patients with kidney cancer.

SUMMARY

Bone metastases, developing in about 30% of the patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, are typically osteolytic on imaging and cause significant morbidity and poor quality of life. Incidence of skeletal-related events has been reported to reach 3.38 per year in such patients. To decrease the incidence of ONJ, a maxillofacial examination must be performed in all patients before treatment with bisphosphonates, in particular in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with sunitinib alone or in association with zoledronate. The management of ONJ consider a conservative approach.

Mandibular osteonecrosis due to bisphosphonate use

Due to their efficient osteoclastic inhibitor effect in bone metabolism and antiangiogenic activity, bisphosphonates are widely used in many cancer diseases particularly in prostate cancers with bone metastasis, lung cancer, breast cancer and multiple myeloma, as well as in systemic diseases such as osteoporosis, osteopenia, Paget disease and osteogenesis imperfect for the last 13 years. Prostate cancer is a common cancer in males and it is the leading cause of bone metastasis. Mandibular metastasis is rarely encountered during the course of prostate cancer. Mandibular osteonecrosis as well has begun to be observed along with the availability of more efficient and stronger formulations developed following the use of bisphosphonates. Zolendronic acid, which has been used also by our patient, has widely come into practice as a 3(rd) generation bisphosphonate. Because of prostate cancer and widespread bone metastases, our patient has been receiving zolendronic acid with maximum androgen blockage for 4 years. Tomography of the patient, who has undergone intensive treatment because of submandibular abscess, demonstrated extensive osteonecrosis in the fovea sublingual region of the mandible corpus. In large series, although, mandibular osteonecrosis was widely seen due to bisphosphonate use for the metastases of lung and breast cancers, this rate was between 9.6% and 11% for prostate cancer within the series. Although our patient had no mandibular metastasis before, mandibular necrosis was observed due to long-term bisphosphonate use. We are going to present our patient who had this rare complication with his clinical picture.

Osteonecrosis of the Jaw in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer Treated With Bisphosphonates and Targeted Agents: Results of an Italian Multicenter Study and Review of the Literature

Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) associated with the use of bisphosphonates has been rarely reported in metastatic renal cell cancer (RCC) patients. Since the introduction of combined therapies consisting of nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates (NBPs) and targeted agents, an increasing number of RCC patients were reported to develop ONJ, suggesting that therapeutic angiogenesis suppression might increase the risk of ONJ in NBPs users. We performed a multicenter retrospective study and reviewed literature data to assess the occurrence and to investigate the nature of ONJ in RCC patients taking NBPs and targeted agents. Nine Italian Centers contributed to the data collection. Patients with exposed and nonexposed ONJ were eligible for the study if they had been taking NBPs and were receiving targeted agents at the time of ONJ diagnosis. Forty-four RCC patients were studied. Patients were mostly male (82%), with a median age of 63 years (range, 45-85 years). Zoledronic acid (93%) and sunitinib (80%) were the most frequently used NBP and antiangiogenic agent, respectively. Other agents included Pamidronate, ibandronate, sorafenib, bevacizumab, mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors. Forty-nine sites of ONJ were encountered, with the mandible being the preferred site of ONJ (52%); both jaws were affected in 5 cases (12%). The most common precipitating event was dental/periodontal infection (34%), followed by tooth extraction (30%). Oral triggers of ONJ were missing in 10 cases (23%). This unexpectedly high number of ONJ cases, in comparison with literature data, suggests that frequency of ONJ in RCC patients might be largely underestimated and suggests a potential role for targeted agents in the incremental risk of ONJ.