Familial idiopathic hyperphosphatasia: a study of two young siblings treated with porcine calcitonin.

A study of two siblings with a severe infantile form of familial idiopathic hyperphosphatasia is reported. A girl aged one year was followed for two years while receiving intermittent treatment with porcine calcitonin. This induced a clinical remission, a reduction of both the high serum level of alkaline phosphatase and the raised urinary excretion of hydroxyproline, and a remarkable improvement in bone structure as seen radiologically. Her sister aged two months received porcine calcitonin for three weeks, during which clinical improvement, no change in the serum level of alkaline phosphatase and a marked decrease of the excretion of hydroxyproline were recorded.