Zoledronic Acid or Methylprednisolone for Active Charcot's Neuroarthropathy of Foot in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus

Summary

Charcot neuropathic osteoarthropathy (CNO) is a progressively destructive process resulting from significant peripheral neuropathy of almost any aetiology. Diabetes mellitus has emerged as the commonest cause of CNO.

The Charcot foot in diabetes poses many clinical challenges in its diagnosis and management. The lacuna primarily lies in delineation of its etio-pathogenesis and consequently in targeted treatment modalities. Although traditional approaches focus on neurotraumatic and neurovascular theories, these fail to explain all the features of CNO, hence, other hypotheses have been put forward.The current belief is that once the disease is triggered in a susceptible individual, it is mediated through a process of uncontrolled inflammation which, in turn, leads to osteolysis, fractures and joint destruction. Of these processes, the involvement of the receptor activator of nuclear factor- кB (RANK) ligand /RANK/osteoprotegerin (OPG) system in the process of acute CNO is particularly appealing and suggests new pharmacological approaches.

Standard modalities of treatment include offloading and casting. Although various trials have analysed the impact of medical agents including bisphosphonates, teriparatide and bone stimulation techniques, the results have been either inconclusive or not translated into clinical practice. Hence, there is no efficacious treatment of active CNO apart from the traditional offloading. In view of recent advances in understanding of the disease process, the target of intervention should, logically, be interruption of the inflammatory cascade and subsequent osteoclast resorption. Zoledronic acid is the most potent bisphosphonate that has been studied in clinical trials to date and has the distinctive profile of strong inhibitory activity on the enzyme farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase, essential for osteoclast function. Methylprednisolone conceivably has a potential benefit by offsetting the RANKL/OPG system involved. There have been conflicting reports with bisphophosphonates in active CNO and Zoledronic acid has been infrequently used despite being the most potent. Glucocorticoids including methylprednisolone have also not been systematically tried in this condition.

We hypothesise that targeting the inflammatory cascade with Methylprednisolone and osteoclast mediated damage by Zoledronic acid will address the basic etiopathogenesis of active CNO and may result in earlier resolution of the disease activity. The above mentioned hypothesis is hence, planned to be tested in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Conditions

• Charcot Arthropathy
• Diabetes Complications

Interventions

DRUG

Zoledronic Acid

Zoledronic acid 5mg intravenous once a month for 3 months

DRUG

Methylprednisolone

Methylprednisolone 1gm intravenous once a month for 3 months

DRUG

Placebos

Normal saline intravenous once a month for 3 months

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Anil Bhansali, DM · Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-06-01

Primary Completion

2018-12-31

Completion

2018-12-31

Countries

• India

Study Locations