A rare presentation of isolated carpal bone tuberculous osteomyelitis mimicking gouty arthritis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most prevalent infectious disease in Southeast Asia. It causes both pulmonary and extrapulmonary diseases. TB of the wrist is rare and presents as osteomyelitis or tenosynovitis. We report a middle-aged male with carpal bone tuberculous osteomyelitis. He presented with left wrist pain initially treated as gouty arthritis. Within 2 weeks, he developed seropurulent discharge with osteomyelitic changes on imaging. He underwent debridement, and intraoperatively, there was destruction of most carpal bones. Histopathological examination revealed chronic granulomatous inflammation with abscess formation. Anti-TB medication was initiated, and he made a complete recovery with almost full range of wrist movement after 9 months of treatment. This case serves as a reminder that TB is a great mimicker, and a high index of suspicion is required to make a diagnosis of TB of the wrist. Early initiation of anti-TB is pivotal to prevent complications and deterioration of joint functions.

Hand and wrist tuberculosis in paediatric patients - our experience in 44 patients.

Skeletal tuberculosis (TB) of the hand and wrist is rare, accounting for less than 1% of all osteoarticular TB. Although rare, TB of the hand and wrist is a cause of major morbidity. A common feature among all available reports on TB of the hand and wrist was a delay in diagnosis, causing residual stiffness and pain after treatment. Minimal initial symptoms, rarity of the lesion and ability of wrist TB to mimic more common pathologies account for the delay. Skeletal TB may behave differently in this age compared with the adult population. Further, the disease may affect the growing bone, causing residual deformities. The paucity of studies from different countries, coupled with a difficulty in diagnosis resulting in major morbidity, led us to carry out a study on this topic. A total of 44 patients with skeletal lesions in the hand and wrist were studied. The diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy. Patients were started on multidrug antitubercular treatment (ATT). Those not responding were scheduled for debridement. All patients were assessed using the Green O'Brian scoring system. All these patients were studied separately for clinical presentation, nutritional status (Rainey-Mcdonald nutritional index), time from onset of symptoms to presentation, treatment required, prognosis and complications. The proximal phalanx of the fourth digit and the metacarpal of the fifth digit were the most commonly involved bones in our series, with five cases of each. The capitate was the most common carpal bone, followed by the lunate. The duration of symptoms ranged from 5 weeks to 24 weeks (mean: 7.6 weeks). Most of these patients presented with complaints of pain, followed by swelling. 13 patients did not respond favourably to ATT over an 8-week period and were scheduled for surgery. Three of these patients had multidrug resistance. There was one case of a pathological fracture in our series and seven cases of arthritis/residual significant pain at the end of follow-up. For all the other patients, the results were excellent. A very high index of suspicion, MRI and early biopsy are required for a timely diagnosis of skeletal TB of the hand and wrist. Early commencement of ATT was the most important factor for good results. The possibility of multidrug resistance should be kept in mind for patients not responding to treatment.

Comparison of arthroscopic and open treatment of septic arthritis of the wrist. Surgical technique.

BACKGROUND: Open irrigation and débridement is the standard of treatment for septic arthritis of the wrist. Although isolated cases of arthroscopic irrigation and débridement have been reported, a comparison of arthroscopic and open techniques has not been performed, to our knowledge. The purpose of this study was to compare the two methods of management. METHODS: A retrospective comparison of patients with septic arthritis of the wrist initially treated, over an eleven-year period, with open or arthroscopic irrigation and débridement was undertaken at a single institution. The clinical presentation, laboratory and microbiological findings, hospital course, complications, and outcomes were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Between 1997 and 2007, thirty-six patients with septic arthritis involving a total of forty wrists were identified. Nineteen wrists (seventeen patients) were initially treated with open irrigation and débridement, and twenty-one wrists (nineteen patients) were initially treated arthroscopically. Eleven wrists in the open-treatment cohort required repeat irrigation and débridement, and eight wrists in the arthroscopy cohort required a repeat procedure. If a repeat irrigation and débridement was required, it was performed in an open fashion in all but two cases. When the comparison included all of the patients in the series, no difference between the two cohorts was found with regard to the number of irrigation and débridement procedures required or the length of the hospital stay. However, when the comparison was limited to the patients with isolated septic arthritis of the wrist, it was found that only one of seven wrists in the open-treatment cohort but all eight wrists in the arthroscopy cohort had been successfully managed with a single irrigation and débridement procedure (p = 0.001). No patient in whom isolated septic arthritis of the wrist had been treated with arthroscopic irrigation and débridement required a second operation. The patients in whom isolated septic arthritis of the wrist was treated with the open method stayed in the hospital for an average of sixteen days compared with a six-day stay for those in whom isolated septic arthritis of the wrist was treated with the arthroscopic method (p = 0.04). The ninety-day perioperative mortality rate in the series was substantial (18% [three patients] in the open-treatment cohort and 21% [four patients] in the arthroscopy cohort). CONCLUSIONS: Arthroscopic irrigation and débridement is an effective treatment for patients with isolated septic arthritis of the wrist; these patients had fewer operations and a shorter hospital stay than did patients who had received open treatment. However, these benefits were not seen in patients with multiple sites of infection.

[Ralstonia pickettii osteomyelitis of the trapezium]. / Osteite du trapèze a Ralstonia pickettii: a propos d'un cas et revue de la littérature.

An immunocompromised 29-year-old man presented with a Ralstonia pickettii osteomyelitis affecting the trapezium bone. The patient underwent two surgical debridement stages, including trapezectomy and long-term drainage. The type of the contaminant organism and the trapezium localization make this observation atypical.

[Recurrent osteitis and Coxiella burnetii: the relation to chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis]. / Ostéites récidivantes et Coxiella burnetti: relation avec l'ostéomyélite chronique récurrente multifocale.

UNLABELLED: Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a disorder of suspected--but unproved-infectious etiology. OBSERVATION: A girl presented with a typical CRMO involving successively the left fibula, radius, humerus and the right carpus. A Coxiella burnetii infection was indicated during the first attack. Two recurrences occurred in spite of suitable antibiotic treatment and with negative infectious investigation. Two months after stopping antibiotic treatment, a new recurrence associated with antibodies increase and positive bone culture occurred. CONCLUSION: Coxiella burnetii can initiate a CRMO. The mechanism involved is probably a delayed hypersensitivity. CRMO would therefore be the first type of reactive osteitis.

Complications of local corticosteroid injections.

Unusual complications associated with local microcrystalline corticosteroid injections were observed in four patients with diverse rheumatic disorders. Adverse reactions included (1) bilateral digital flexor tendon rupture following carpal tunnel injection for idiopathic median nerve compression syndrome; (2) bowstring deformity of a finger after local corticosteroid treatment of psoriatic digital flexor tendonitis; (3) carpal tunnel infection following dorsal arthrocentesis of a wrist in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis; and (4) pronounced flushing of the face, neck, and chest after intrasynovial corticosteroid injection in a patient with psoriasis and arthritis. This article considers some physiologic actions of corticosteroids possibly responsible for development of these untoward effects.