Abstract

Urinary glycosaminoglycan and hydroxyproline excretion was studied in 11 patients with clear evidence of Paget's disease of bone. Urinary hydroxyproline, cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC)-precipitable uronic acid and CPC-precipitable hexosamine were expressed as ratios to urinary creatinine. Urine samples were concentrated × 1000 by vacuum dialysis and the glycosaminoglycans examined by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate followed by staining with alcian blue. All the cases studied showed markedly raised hydroxyproline excretion, whereas the uronic acid excretion was normal or only slightly raised in 10 of the 11 cases studied. One patient who had a raised uronic acid and raised hydroxyproline concentration was shown to have osteosarcoma as a complication of Paget's disease.

The very high hydroxyproline: creatinine ratio in all cases of Paget's disease (mean 241·8 mmol hydroxyproline/mol creatinine) contrasted sharply with the cases of disseminated neoplasm, where the ratio was either normal or slightly raised (mean 29·3 mmol hydroxyproline/mol creatinine). The ratio of hydroxyproline to CPC-precipitable uronic acid was also markedly raised in cases of Paget's disease (mean 77·3 mmol hydroxyproline/mmol uronic acid) and was lower in the neoplastic group (mean 14·1 mmol hydroxyproline/mmol uronic acid) but showed no advantage over the hydroxyproline: creatinine ratio in differentiating the two groups.

The urinary hydroxyproline: creatinine ratio promises to be of value in differentiating between Paget's disease of bone and neoplastic invasion of bone. A marked rise in CPC-precipitable uronic acid excretion alone is more suggestive of neoplastic invasion of bone, and if associated with a marked increase in hydroxyproline excretion, it raises the possibility of neoplastic change in Paget's disease of bone. The results of this study also suggest that bone collagen, rather than bone tissue in general, is primarily affected in Paget's disease.