[Clodronate in erosive osteoarthrosis of the hand: efficacy for pain and function recovery]

29 patients suffering from erosive osteoarthritis of the hands (26 women with a mean age of 61.47 years and 3 men with a mean age of 53.3 years) were treated during painful episodes with cyclical intravenous clodronate (300 mg for slow infusion for 7 days). We administered 73 cycles after which the pain, evaluated by VAS' score, decreased from 5.63 +/- 2.14 to 2.93 +/- 1.95 (p = 0.0001); the pain reduction lasted for a mean of 88.33 days. In 16 out of those 73 cycles were measured also: the strength of the hands (mmHg) which increased, on the right from 169.38 +/- 75.85 to 190.31 +/- 81.76, on the left from 180.56 +/- 68.27 to 196.11 +/- 85.55 (p = n.s.); the number of painful joints which decreased from 4.75 +/- 2.52 to 2.56 +/- 1.93 (p = 0.0011); the number of swollen joints which decreased from 3.07 +/- 2.69 to 2.67 +/- 2.61 (p = n.s). These data prove the efficacy of the clodronate in treating painful episodes of erosive osteoarthritis and suggest that bisphoshonates could play an important role in the rehabilitation of this disease.