Comparison of the acute effect of the intranasal and intramuscular administration of salmon calcitonin in Paget's disease.

On 7 patients with mild-to-moderately active Paget's disease, 200 IU of salmon calcitonin (SCT) nasal spray (NS), induced a significant decrease of the total urinary hydroxyproline excretion (THP) during the 8-16 hour and the 0-24 hour (P less than 0.05) periods after treatment as compared to control day. However, the administration of 100 IU of SCT intramuscularly (i.m.) caused a significantly greater effect than 200 IU-NS during the second 8 hour period after its administration (P less than 0.01) and on the over-all 24 hour effect (P less than 0.05). On 3 patients with severe Paget's disease, SCT-NS was essentially ineffective whereas the injection of SCT induced a marked diminution of the THP excretion.