Intravenous disodium etidronate therapy in Paget's disease of bone and hypercalcemia of malignancy. Effects on biochemical parameters and bone histomorphometry.

Nineteen patients with Paget's disease and four patients with hypercalcemia of malignancy underwent hypocalcemic therapy with etidronate disodium (etidronate) administered intravenously. The dosage for patients with Paget's disease was 4.3 mg/kg/day, infused on each of seven consecutive days. Nine of the 19 patients also received oral etidronate 5 mg/kg/day for three months after administration of intravenous therapy. Etidronate administered orally sustained the decreases in urinary hydroxyproline produced by the infusions, whereas levels returned to pretreatment values in most patients receiving only the intravenously administered drug. Serum alkaline phosphatase levels were not reduced in the 10 patients receiving only intravenously administered etidronate, but they declined by approximately 50 percent in the nine patients who received the additional orally administered etidronate. Transiliac-crest bone biopsy specimens obtained three months after intravenous therapy revealed a regular lamellar structure, compared with the characteristic woven pattern of pagetic bone. In all four patients with hypercalcemia of malignancy, normocalcemia was achieved by the 10th day of treatment using a dosage of 4.3 mg/kg/day. Oral etidronate therapy was beneficial in maintaining normocalcemia.