Paget's disease: New treatment for an old disease.

There are probably 2.5 million patients with Paget's disease in the U.S.; 125,000 of these have severe disease meriting specific treatment. While the diagnosis can often be made by inspection, or by measurement of the temperature of involved limbs, it is often missed. Nonspecific findings include pain, headaches, deafness, heart failure, neurologic deficits and renal stones. A specific diagnosis can usually be established by radiologic examination of the skeleton and measurement of the serum alkaline phosphatase level. Bone scans are often helpful. In moderate-to-severe symptomatic disease, calcitonin limits the unregulated chaotic bone resorption and exerts highly specific and effective suppressive activity.