Predictive factors for refractory stage I and II anti-resorptive agent-related osteonecrosis of the jaw

Objectives We aimed to predict the possibility of patients with stage I and II anti-resorptive agent-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (ARONJ) developing resistance to our treatment protocol by evaluating their clinical and imaging factors. Materials and methods We enrolled 58 patients with ARONJ who underwent imaging modality. As objective variables, we considered the healing, stage-down, and stable stages as successful outcomes, and the stage-up stage as resistant-to-treatment. As explanatory variables, we investigated the clinical and imaging factors. Furthermore, we examined stage-down as an improvement outcome to compare with the stable and stage-up stages, which were considered as no-improvement outcomes. We conducted unpaired between-group comparisons on all explanatory variables using chi(2) tests for independence. Results Among 58 patients, the treatment was successful in 53 (91.4%); however, the disease was resistant in five (8.6%). Among the clinical factors, the resistant patients had a longer duration of administration of bone-modifying agents (BMAs) (cut-off: 1251 days, p = 0.032, odds ratio = 11.2, 95% confidence interval 1.115-122.518). In addition, the target disease that was being treated bone metastasis of malignant tumor was the only significant refractory factor (p = 0.024, OR: 3.667 95% CI 1.159-11.603) Conclusions A combination of metabolic and morphological imaging modalities may be useful for oral surgeons to evaluate the disease activity and predict course of refractory ARONJ.