NSCLC and Bone Metastases: Loading Doses of Ibandronate for Bone Pain
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2020
For patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have bone pain from bone metastases, loading doses of ibandronate may not provide sufficient pain relief, according to the phase II multicenter NVALT-9 trial published in Frontiers in Oncology. Therefore, “studies evaluating other treatment options for rapid bone pain relief in this patient population are necessary,” according to Anne-Marie C. Dingemans, MD, of the Maastricht University Medical Center+, the Netherlands, and colleagues.
A total of 18 patients with NSCLC and bone metastases who experienced uncontrolled cancer-induced bone pain were enrolled in the study. All patients were intravenously administered 6 mg of ibandronate daily for 3 days. The study authors examined the level of pain experienced by patients throughout the duration of the study. On each day of the study, patients rated their pain using the Brief Pain Inventory. Patients who received systemic antitumor treatments had active secondary malignancies, or had been given radiotherapy up to 4 weeks prior to the commencement of the study were excluded. In addition to the Brief Pain Inventory, the investigators assessed analgesic consumption, World Health Organization Performance Status, as well as quality-of-life and safety measures.
The study findings revealed that 16 of the patients were unable to reduce their analgesic consumption throughout the duration of the study. In fact, two patients had to increase their analgesic consumption. A total of 22.2% of patients demonstrated a bone pain response greater than 25% over days 5 through 7.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit frontiersin.org.
