bone, joint, and muscle disorders
Paget Disease of Bone
Symptoms of Paget Disease of Bone
Paget disease usually causes no symptoms. However, bone pain, bone enlargement, or bone deformity may occur. Bone pain may be deep, aching, and occasionally severe and may worsen at night. The enlarging bones may compress nerves, causing more pain. If osteoarthritis occurs, joints become painful and stiff. Other symptoms vary depending on which bones are affected. The skull may enlarge, and the brow and forehead may look more prominent (called frontal bossing). A person may notice this enlargement when a larger hat is needed. Enlarged skull bones may damage the inner ear (cochlea), which can cause hearing loss, and dizziness. The enlarged skull bones can compress nerves, which causes headaches. The veins on the scalp may bulge, possibly because of the increased blood flow through the skull bones. Bones the upper arm, thigh, or calf may appear bowed and are more likely to break because the bone is weakened by Paget disease. The vertebrae may enlarge, collapse, or both because bones affected by Paget disease are weak. Weakened vertebrae could result in a loss of height, a hunched posture, or pinching of the nerves of the spinal cord, causing pain, numbness, or weakness. The most common complication of Paget disease of bone is Osteoarthritis (OA) (a joint disorder) Osteoarthritis develops in up to 50% of people and develops in joints next to the involved bone. Fractures tend to occur more easily than normal at involved bones because these bones are weakened by Paget disease. Such fractures are called pathologic fractures. Overgrown bone may compress nerves and other structures passing through small openings. The spinal canal may become narrow and Compression of the Spinal Cord . Rarely, Heart Failure (HF) develops because the increased blood flow through the affected bone puts extra stress on the heart. Because blood flow through affected bones is unusually high, those bones may bleed excessively during surgery. The affected bone becomes cancerous in less than 1% of people who have Paget disease. People whose disease progresses to bone cancer usually develop an High blood levels of calcium ( Hypercalcemia (High Level of Calcium in the Blood) ) may very rarely occur in bedridden people with Paget disease. 