Paget's disease of bone
Last reviewed 10/2023
Paget's disease is the second most common metabolic bone disease after osteoporosis and is the commonest cause of bone dysplasia.
- it is characterised by one or more areas of aggressive osteoclast-mediated bone resorption followed by imperfect osteoblast-mediated bone repair (1)
Involvement of the disease is monostotic in 15% of cases and polyostotic in the remainder.
- can affect any bone but frequently the axial skeleton is involved. The usual sites include
- pelvis (70%)
- femur (55%)
- lumbar spine (53%)
- skull (42%)
- tibia (32%) (2)
- when long bones are affected they may become bowed
- thickening of the skull may lead to compression of cranial nerves with consequent palsies.
Many cases of Paget's disease are asymptomatic.
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