title: Healing of the bone with anti-fracture drugs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fracture healing is a complex process that leads to the restoration of tissue integrity through bone repair and represents a unique physiological characteristic of bone. Developing a better understanding of a fracture is essential to plan best noninvasive treatment for the patient. In osteoporosis, the patient who suffers of a fragility fracture is recommended to initiate a treatment with compounds active in preventing other low-energy skeletal trauma. Pharmaceutical industries are developing controlled clinical trials aiming to evaluate the capability of osteoporosis drugs to accelerate fracture healing.
  
  
  METHODS
  In preparing this review, a search was made with key words encompassing 'osteoporosis anti-fracture drugs and bone repair/healing', 'antiresorptives and bone repair/healing', 'bone-forming agents and bone repair/healing', and 'osteoporosis/anti-fracture drugs in fractures'. The results published in the area of the use of registered anti-fracture drugs to improve fracture repair and the efforts made to recommend measures for clinical outcomes in fracture healing acceleration are described in this report.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At present, the use of systemic pharmacological agents active to improve fracture healing by the clinicians is controversial and clinicians and scientists must do a better job in determining the methods of assessment for fracture healing.
authors.affiliation: University of Florence, Bone Metabolic Diseases Unit, Department of Surgery and Translational Medicine, Florence, Italy. marialuisa.brandi@unifi.it
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Brandi
mesh_terms: D045930:Anabolic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017102:Fracture Healing / Q000187:drug effects; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D045930:Anabolic Agents; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents