Osteomyelitis
| Osteomyelitis | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Bone infection |
| Osteomyelitis of the 1st toe | |
| Specialty | Infectious disease, orthopedics |
| Symptoms | Pain in a specific bone, overlying redness, fever, weakness |
| Complications | Amputation |
| Usual onset | Young or old |
| Duration | Short or long term |
| Causes | Bacterial, fungal |
| Risk factors | Diabetes, intravenous drug use, prior removal of the spleen, trauma to the area |
| Diagnostic method | Blood tests, medical imaging, bone biopsy |
| Differential diagnosis | Charcot's joint, rheumatoid arthritis, infectious arthritis, giant cell tumor, cellulitis |
| Treatment | Antimicrobials, surgery |
| Prognosis | Low risk of death with treatment |
| Frequency | 2.4 per 100,000 per year |
Osteomyelitis (OM) is the infectious inflammation of bone.
OM may be acute or chronic and can be classified as hematogenous or non-hematogenous.
Symptoms are commonly non-specific but may include pain, swelling and redness around the affected area. In adults, the most commonly affected site is the spine and in pediatric populations the most commonly affected site is the long bones.
OM is commonly caused by bacterial infection, but rarely can be due to fungal infection.
Diagnosis is suspected based on clinical presentation and aided by laboratory and imaging studies with definitive diagnosis via biopsy and culture of the presenting area.
Treatment of bacterial osteomyelitis involves antimicrobials and can involve surgery or amputation. Treatment outcomes of bacterial osteomyelitis are generally good when the condition has only been present a short time.
In humans, the condition was described as early as the 300s BC by Hippocrates. Prior to the availability of antibiotics, the risk of death was significant.