Etidronate Disodium and Food

• Generic Name: etidronate
• Dosage Forms: n.a.
• Other Brand Names: Didronel, Didronel IV.

Used in the treatment of moderate to severe symptomatic Paget disease of bone (osteitis deformans).

Efficacy not established in asymptomatic patients. May consider prophylactic treatment in patients with extensive involvement of the skull or spinal column and the possibility of irreversible neurologic damage or in those with extensive involvement threatening major joints or weight-bearing bones.

Less effective than risedronate or alendronate in the treatment of moderate to severe Paget disease of bone.

Relapse generally tends to occur within about 3–24 months in patients most likely to relapse (e.g., higher pretreatment markers of bone turnover).

Resistance is most likely to develop in patients receiving >1 course of therapy per year or those with higher pretreatment indices of bone turnover.

Used in the prevention and treatment of heterotopic ossification (myositis ossificans, ectopic calcification, periarticular ossification, or paraosteoarthropathy) following total hip arthroplasty or resulting from spinal cord injury.

Efficacy not established for treatment of idiopathic heterotopic ossification or heterotopic ossification associated with conditions other than total hip arthroplasty or spinal cord injury.

Bisphosphonates, including etidronate, have been used effectively for the prevention and treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.