The upper GI safety and tolerability of oral alendronate at a dose of 70 milligrams once weekly: a placebo-controlled endoscopy study.

Objective: Alendronate (10 mg daily) has been shown in long term clinical trials to be an effective treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis. A weekly dosing regimen of alendronate is preferred by both patients and physicians, as it has the potential to provide greater convenience and enhance compliance. In a 1-yr clinical trial, alendronate (70 mg once weekly) was equally efficacious and at least as well tolerated as the 10-mg daily dose in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, despite the higher unit dosage required.

The circadian rhythm of biliary colic.

We evaluated 50 consecutive patients with symptomatic gallstones for the clinical features of biliary pain with particular reference to the timing of their painful episodes. Thirty-eight of the 50 patients were able to provide the time of onset of biliary pain in the 24-h cycle. The time of onset of biliary pain displays significant circadian periodicity (p = 0.

Tetracycline-induced pancreatitis.

A 21-year-old man developed acute pancreatitis on two separate occasions after a short-term course (less than 10 days) of tetracycline in the presence of normal liver and renal function. Although tetracycline is frequently listed as a cause of pancreatitis, this is only the second documented case of tetracycline-induced pancreatitis in an otherwise healthy person. We review the pertinent literature.