Subacute osteomyelitis in children

The diagnostic difficulties of the subacute hematogenous osteomyelitis are due as much to the lack of infection signs as to the extreme polymorphism of the radiological aspects simulating malignant or benign tumoral processes. The authors report 14 cases of subacute osteomyelitis of the long bones in children [among them, 9 cases of Brodie's abcess]. The diagnosis has been confirmed in 9 patients without surgical biopsy. The recovery, spontaneously or under medical treatment lead the authors to discuss the necessity of a surgical approach [diagnostic and therapeutic] when there are evocative radiological aspects, particularly in a country where osteomyelitis remains frequent