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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staff
Detecting Paget's disease of bone early may help prevent serious complications. The following procedures may help your doctor detect Paget's disease of bone:
- Blood test. If you have a sibling or parent with Paget's disease, talk to your doctor about requesting an alkaline phosphatase blood test every two to three years after age 40. Alkaline phosphatase is produced by bone cells that are responsible for forming new bone and is elevated in most people with Paget's disease.
- X-rays. The first indication of Paget's disease is often either an elevated alkaline phosphatase level or abnormalities found on X-rays done for other reasons. X-ray images of your bones can show areas of bone reabsorption, enlargement of the bone and deformities that are characteristic of Paget's disease, such as bowing of your long bones. Your doctor may be able to base a diagnosis of Paget's disease on the bone X-ray findings.
- Bone scan. In some cases, your doctor may recommend a bone scan. Bone scans can pick up Paget's disease before it can be seen on an X-ray. Doctors also use bone scans to determine which bones are affected. In a bone scan, radioactive tracers are injected into your body. The tracers are taken up by your bones and give off radiation that's captured by a special camera, which produces a picture of your skeleton. Areas of bone that are affected by Paget's disease are darker than normal on the scan.
