Co-existing Paget's disease and ankylosing spondylitis resulting in panthoracic pagetic vertebral ankylosis

Pagetic vertebral ankylosis is an uncommon presentation and occurs when Paget's disease is associated with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and ankylosing spondylitis. In these cases, the pagetic trait extends from one vertebra to another by invasion of the intervertebral disc space. Such acquired vertebral ankylosis is extremely uncommon but possible when bony bridging syndesmophytes or osteophytes are present. We describe one such case, where a delayed diagnosis resulted in the most extensive pagetic vertebral ankylosis described in the literature and severe patient morbidity.