Significant pain relief with loading dose zoledronic acid in bone metastases is only seen in patients with elevated initial serum C telopeptide (CTX)

J Dekoninck1, F Geurs1, R De Loecker2, Y Deprest21Department of Medical Oncology, 2Laboratory, Regional Hospital Sint Maria, Halle, BelgiumAbstract: In symptomatic bone metastases with significant pain, refractory to standard analgesics and radiotherapy, loading dose zoledronic acid (ZA) represents a simple and nontoxic treatment to obtain significant pain relief in a very short time. Its analgesic effect is limited to patients with massive osteoclast activation with high initial serum C-telopeptide (CTX). The pain reduction is proportionally correlated with the reduction of CTX.Keywords: bone resorption, bisphosphonates, CTX levels, VAS score