Paget Disease
Keyword(s):
Chapter 73 discusses Paget disease, which is a progressive bone disease of excessive bone turnover and abnormal, disordered bone remodeling. Paget disease generally affects older patients. Paget disease has an initial active phase with a focal zone of osteolysis and an inactive phase with bone enlargement, trabecular coarsening, and cortical thickening. The diagnosis of Paget disease is usually made with radiographs, though cross-sectional imaging can be useful for early diagnosis in the skull and spine. Rare complications of Paget disease include neural impingement and sarcomatous degeneration. Treatment is provided with medical therapy and surgical treatment of pathologic fracture or prophylactic fixation.