Background: Biphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) is a potential side effect associated with the administration of bisphosphonates; the aim of this work is to highlight the possible epidemiological differences between two groups of patients affected by medication related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) treated at the Center of Oral Medicine, Pathology and Laser Surgery of the Academic Hospital at the University of Parma, Italy, between January 2004 and June 2016.
Methods: Medical charts of 303 patients (214 females and 89 males, mean age: 67 years old) treated at the Center of Oral Medicine, Pathology and Laser Surgery of the Academic Hospital at the University of Parma, between January 2004 and June 2016, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided in 2 groups according to drugs therapy they underwent: group 1 (G1) including patients treated with bisphosphonates alone and group 2 (G2) including patients receiving antiresorptive-antiangiogenic drugs in association with bisphosphonates or antiresorptive-antiangiogenic drugs alone. Than 269 MRONJ sites treated with 5 different therapeutical approaches were analyzed.
Results: Results showed G1 consisting mainly in female patients undergoing bisphosphonates for oncologic disease, stage II was most frequently diagnosed and MRONJ developed mainly after dental extraction or bone surgery. G2 consisted mainly in males patients, whom took antiresorptive-antiangiogenic drugs in association with bisphosphonate or antiresorptive-antiangiogenic drugs alone for oncologic disease. Stage II was most frequently diagnosed and MRONJ developed most frequently "spontaneous".
Conclusions: This study showed how a new population affected by MRONJ is emerging. Men affected by kidney cancer treated with new antiresorptive-antiangiogenic drugs will represent a growing portion of the pool of patients at risk. In our experience, a strict follow-up is of outmost importance to early detect MRONJ also in patients with spontaneous cases. When MRONJ occurs, surgical laser treatment with Er:YAG seems to represent the option with highest percentage of success; for patients with contraindication to surgery, LLLT helps to improve outcomes of the medical therapy.