Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients with Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaws.

Patients with medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) are at risk for developing infections and often require long-term antimicrobial therapy for management. It is unclear whether patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who develop MRONJ experience increased morbidity when they undergo hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The aim of this study was to characterize the course of HCT in MM patients with MRONJ. A retrospective chart review was conducted for patients with MM and MRONJ who underwent HCT between December 2005 and December 2014. Data collected included bisphosphonate use, MRONJ stage, positive blood cultures, number of febrile days, and length of hospital stay. Eleven patients (median age, 61; range, 46 to 71) fulfilled the criteria. Patients received zoledronic acid (72.7%), pamidronate (18.1%), or a combination of both (9%). At the time of HCT, 10 patients were in stage 1 MRONJ with 1 in stage 0. All patients had only mandibular involvement. No patient developed pain/infection at the MRONJ site during hospitalization. Bacteremia with positive blood cultures for Staphylococcus aureus occurred in 3 patients (27.2%), and 4 patients (36.3%) developed fever lasting between 4 to 6 days (of who 1 had positive blood cultures). The median length of hospital stay was 17 days (range, 7 to 22 days). These data suggests that patients with MM and MRONJ who undergo HCT are not at increased risk of developing symptoms associated with the MRONJ site or HCT-related infectious complications, and their MRONJ is not worsened by HCT.