Coexistence of Paget's bone disease and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis in males.

The coexistence of Paget's bone disease (PBD) and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) of the spine is controversial and could have implications for the pathogenic mechanisms involved in these disorders. In order to assess the prevalence of DISH in patients with Paget's disease, a prospective controlled study was carried out in which roentgenograms were obtained from a group of 50 consecutive ambulatory patients previously diagnosed as having PBD (25 males and 25 females; mean age: 66.2±8.9 years) and these were compared with 50 age- and sex-matched subjects selected randomly from various categories of medical disorders excluding PBD