Paget's disease of bone

by Stella Zhang

General characteristics of Paget's disease

Paget's disease is a chronic bone disease caused by abnormal bone reconstruction in adults. The disease is characterized by excessive osteoclasts out of control, which leads to high speed osteolysis, and leads to increased osteoblasts and excessive bone formation. The resulting bone tissue structure is fragile, local bone enlargement, loose and prone to pathological fractures, and peripheral bone angiogenesis or osteosarcoma. The main manifestations are pain, stiffness, fatigue, bone deformity, headache, hearing loss, and skull enlargement. Paget bone pain is deep pain, occasionally acute pain, can be aggravated at night. Pain can also be caused by nerve compression or can be associated with osteoarthritis, depending on the extent and location of the lesion, whether it is uniosseous or polyosseous, whether there is deformity or comorbidities.

This disease often occurs in the axial bone, can involve any bone. Patients with common bone deformity, such as head enlargement, hunchback and limbs bending deformity, at the same time can appear skull base depression, spinal cord and nerve root compression symptoms, but also can appear ear sclerosis, deafness, optic nerve atrophy and other symptoms. Fractures can occur with minor injuries due to reduced bone strength, and are most common in the femur, tibia, humerus, spine, and pelvis.

1. The skull increases year by year, accompanied by deafness or other symptoms of cranial nerve damage;

2. Arcuate deformity with progressive aggravation in upper and lower limbs;

3. Pathological fracture of unknown cause

4. Unexplained increase in blood ALP. X - ray examination is helpful to diagnose the affected area.

Types of medical treatments available for Paget's disease

There's no treatments can absolutely cure Paget's disease, but patients can try the four ways to prevent complications of Paget's disease and improve the strength of bone:

1) Medications. Two primary medications include Bisohosphonates, which is a generic bone disease drug that controls the bone formation and breakdown. Another medication is Calcitonin, a hormone that regulates calcium and other essential element used to form a new bone.

2) Surgery. Surgeries are used to combat the complications of the diseases. 

3) Exercise. Regular exercise can help the body absorb calcium and other elements better which are good for the bones.

4) Diet. A healthy daily influx of calcium and Vitamin D is vital to combat this disease.

Some statistics on Paget's disease 

More than 200,000 US cases per year.

Can last for years or lifelong.

Approximately 1% of people older than 40 in the US.

Reference URLs:

https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/pagets-disease-bone/advanced#tab-treatment

https://www.rightdiagnosis.com/p/pagetbone/stats.htm

http://tumorarchive.ior.it/node/109