Purpose Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies worldwide. Hormonal deprivation therapy is a well-established treatment for locally advanced or metastatic diseases but exposes patients to the risk of osteoporosis and fragility fractures. Furthermore, the tropism of the PCa cells to osseous metastases increases the incidence of skeletal-related events (SREs). Methods A nonsystematic review of the international literature was performed in respect to the use of osteoclast inhibitors zoledronic acid (ZA) and denosumab (DEN) in PCa patients. Results DEN and ZA have proved their efficacy in preventing osteoporosis and bone mass loss in patients treated with hormonal therapy with no proven superiority of one agent over the other. However, the effectiveness in reducing fragility fractures has been proved only for DEN so far. In metastatic-free castrate-sensitive high-risk PCa patients, ZA has not shown any efficacy in preventing osseous metastasis, and evidence is lacking in favor or against the use of DEN. The use of osteoclasts inhibitors had no evident positive effect in overall and disease-specific survival in this group of patients. In advanced castrate-refractory malignancy, DEN has shown clinical superiority over ZA in preventing new SRE but not in overall survival. Conclusion Superiority of DEN over ZA has been proved only in advanced castrate refractory disease in terms of preventing new SRE. In the rest of the cases, the selection of either agent should be based on the clinical condition of each patient and the cost of the treatment.

Hip fractures are associated with the highest degree of morbidity and mortality of all fractures in elderly patients and pose a major risk for subsequent fractures. Patients with hip fractures also present accelerated bone turnover despite early stable fracture fixation and early mobilization. We aimed to evaluate oxidative stress in two groups of patients (25 patients each, matched for age, side, and BMI) who underwent internal fixation of hip fractures and total hip arthroplasty for hip osteoarthritis. Blood samples were taken from all patients during admission, the day of surgery, the 4th postoperative day, and the 15th postoperative day. Reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) glutathione, GSH/GSSG, catalase (CAT), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), protein carbonyls (PC), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) as a widely used battery of redox biomarkers were recorded from blood samples. Patients with hip fractures who undergo fixation surgery, compared to those with hip osteoarthritis, suffer significant oxidative stress with an active but insufficient first line of oxidative defense, an intensive first line reaction, a very active second line of oxidative defense, and a low plasma antioxidant capacity. Surgery worsened already present lipid- and protein-related tissue damage. The severe oxidative stress observed may explain high morbidity and mortality rates and high bone turnover status, as well as the high incidence of refractures. Furthermore, the question of whether antioxidant therapy measures should be introduced in the management of hip fracture patients is raised.

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