Treatment of stress fractures in athletes with intravenous pamidronate.

Objective: To determine if the use of a second-generation biphosphonate, pamidronate, is an effective treatment option for stress fractures in intercollegiate athletes. Pamidronate is successfully used to increase bone mass in patients with Charcot arthropathy and osteoporosis.

Design: Case series.

Setting: Academic sports medicine clinic with primary responsibility for intercollegiate athletics.

Participants: Five intercollegiate female athletes.

Interventions: Intravenous pamidronate administered weekly for a total of 5 treatments.

Main Outcome Measurement: Athletes' ability to continue training without restrictions.

Results: Four of 5 treated athletes were able to continue training and competition within 1 week of treatment.

Conclusions: Pamidronate may be a useful adjunct to the treatment of stress fractures.