Tuberculous Osteomyelitis of the Long Bones

Shin, Kyoo Ho; Kim, Hyun Woo; Shin, Sang Jin; Jahng, Jun Seop

Abstract

The incidence of the tuberculous osteomyelitis of bone and joint has been decreasing due to improvements in nutrition and medical treatment. However the resurgence of tuberculosis is observed with more frequency as an opportunistic infection. In Korea the incidence of the tuberculosis has been decreasing with rapid economic development, but it is still one of the common pathological conditions involving bone and joint. Tuberculos osteomyelitis confined only to the long bones without involving joints is very rare. The accurate diagnosis of the turberculos osteomyelitis of long bone is difficult, because of the low incidence, long duration and nonspecific radiological findings. We reviewed retrospectively a total of 521 consecutive bone and joint tuberculosis from March 1985 to December 1994. Thirty-eight cases were involved only long bones without inflicting joints. The mean duration of follow up was 16 months. The disease was most frequent in the third decade. Femur(45%) and metaphysic(79%) were the most commonly involved site of the tuberculous osteomyelitis of the long bone. Significant delay in the diagnosis and the initation of the treatment would have been avoided if the biopsy had been performed early. It was looked like that longer symptom duration, higher ESR, associated with pulmonary tuberculosis and inappropriate treatment resulted in recurrence. But when compared with primarily cured cases, these factors did not affect the recurrence statistically. In conclusion, the better results and prevention of the recurrence were observed in cases with early diagnosis, complete removal of the lesion and continuous antituberculous medication.