[Treatment of Paget's disease of bone with salmon calcitonin (author's transl)]

Subcutaneous injections for two days of 100 MRC units each of synthetic salmon calcitonin were administered to 40 out of 77 patients with Paget's disease of bone. Chemical pathology (alkaline serum phosphatase, hydroxyprolinuria) showed an initially satisfactory response of all patients to this treatment. Resistance developed in 6 out of 8 patients on long term treatment with recurrence of increased serum alkaline phosphatase, occurring after 4 months at the earliest and 24 months at the latest. Human calcitonin may be an alternative of treatment in these cases of secondary resistance. Treatment with calcitonin is nearly risk-free and represents a definite progress in comparison with earlier forms of treatment.