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Clodronate and hydroxychloroquine in erosive osteoarthritis: a 24-month open randomized pilot study
Modern Rheumatology, 08/24/2011
Saviola G et al. – Clodronate is effective in erosive osteoarthritis; hydroxychloroquine seems to be ineffective.
Methods- The authors evaluated the efficacy of clodronate for treating active erosive osteoarthritis of the hand and to compare it with hydroxychloroquine.
- Group A consisted of 24 patients treated for 24 months with clodronate 300 mg i.v. for 7 days, followed by clodronate i.m. 100 mg for 14 days every 3 months.
- Group B comprised 14 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine 400 mg daily for 30 days, followed by 200 mg daily for the next 11 months.
- In group A, 21/24 patients completed the trial and obtained significant pain reduction (p < 0.001), Dreiser’s score (p = 0.012), and number of tender joints (p = 0.011).
- Strength of right (p = 0.04) and left (p = 0.016) hands, physician’s global assessment (p ≤ 0.001), and patient’s global assessment (p = 0.021) improved.
- In group B, 8/14 patients completed 12 months of the study, which showed the inefficacy of hydroxychloroquine and its lack of acceptance by patients (worsening pain and patient’s global assessment).
- Therefore, enrolment was stopped.
- Differences between groups showed a pain decreasing trend for group A and a slightly increasing one for group B (p = 0.018).
- Physician and patient global assessments showed a strong increase in group A compared with group B (p < 0.001).