[Etiology of Paget's disease of bone]

The etiology of Paget's disease is just as doubtful in 1975 as it was in 1876 when Sir James Paget described the disease. The authors analyse the etiology on the basis of 100 personal cases and the literature. Although there are undoubtedly familial cases of the disease, investigation of the leucocyte grouping of 46 patients with Paget's disease did not reveal any correlation between occurrence of the disease and the HL-A antigens. Various pathological associations have been reported in the literature and were also found in this series. These associations were at the limits of coincidence (inflammatory rheumatism, diffuse chondrocalcinosis, multiple myeloma...). Metabolic changes (hyperuricaemia, hyperglycaemia, dyslipidaemia) did not appear to be more frequent than in control patients. Involvement of elastic tissue and the presence of pseudocrystalline inclusions in the osteoclasts constitute interesting points for discussion.