DOCTORS in Swindon are taking part in a major national study of a common but little-known bone disease.

A team at the Great Western Hospital, led by Dr Elizabeth Price, is hoping to recruit up to 30 patients who have Paget's Disease to take part in the Wiltshire arm of the UK's biggest yet clinical trial related to the condition.

Up to 1,700 Paget's Disease patients in 42 hospitals are expected to take part in the PRISM trial, which is being funded largely by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign.

About a million people in the UK have the illness, which leads to accelerated bone growth, particularly in the skull, pelvis, spine, thighs and shins.

The main symptom is bone pain, but bone deformity and bone fractures can also occur, and many patients suffer deafness when the disease attacks the tiny bones of the inner ear.

Consultant rheumatologist Dr Price said: "Over the past 25 years, increasingly effective drugs called bisphosphonates have been developed, which can reduce bone turnover in Paget's Disease.

"This has led to the suggestion that patients should be treated intensively with repeated courses of bisphosphonates, whether or not they have symptoms, and therefore possibly prevent complications of the disease such as fractures and deafness.

"But there is no clinical evidence that intensive treatment works any better than symptomatic treatment hence this trial to compare these two approaches to treatment to see which works best.

"We'd also like to raise awareness of Paget's Disease among the public. After osteoporosis, it's the most common bone condition, yet very few people have heard of it."

The Arthritis Research Campaign is putting more than £700,000 into the four-year PRISM trial, with additional support from the Alliance for Better Bone Health and the National Association for the Relief of Paget's Disease.

Anyone in the Wiltshire area who would like to know more about the illness or the trial should contact trial co-ordinator Anne Langston at the University of Aberdeen on (01224) 551126 or at prism@hsru.abdn.ac.uk.

Patients eligible must be aged over 18 and have symptomatic or asymptomatic Paget's Disease.