Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2002 May 16:2:8.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-2-8.

Lack of microbiological concordance between bone and non-bone specimens in chronic osteomyelitis: an observational study

Andrés F Zuluaga  1 , Wilson Galvis, Fabián Jaimes, Omar Vesga
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Lack of microbiological concordance between bone and non-bone specimens in chronic osteomyelitis: an observational study

Andrés F Zuluaga et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Prognosis of chronic osteomyelitis depends heavily on proper identification and treatment of the bone-infecting organism. Current knowledge on selecting the best specimen for culture is confusing, and many consider that non-bone specimens are suitable to replace bone cultures. This paper compares the microbiology of non-bone specimens with bone cultures, taking the last as the diagnostic gold standard.

Methods: Retrospective observational analysis of 50 patients with bacterial chronic osteomyelitis in a 750-bed University-based hospital.

Results: Concordance between both specimens for all etiologic agents was 28%, for Staphylococcus aureus 38%, and for organisms other than S. aureus 19%. The culture of non-bone specimens to identify the causative organisms in chronic osteomyelitis produced 52% false negatives and 36% false positives when compared against bone cultures.

Conclusions: Diagnosis and therapy of chronic osteomyelitis cannot be guided by cultures of non-bone specimens because their microbiology is substantially different to the microbiology of the bone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percent distribution of bacterial species isolated from the bones of 50 patients with chronic osteomyelitis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Eisenberg JM, Kitz DS. Savings from outpatient antibiotic therapy for osteomyelitis. Economic analysis of a therapeutic strategy. JAMA. 1986;255:1584–1588. doi: 10.1001/jama.255.12.1584. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mader JT, Calhoun J. Osteomyelitis. In: Mandell GL, Bennet JE, Dolin R, editor. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. Philadelphia, Churchill Livingston; 2000. pp. 1182–1196.
    1. Mackowiak PA, Jones SR, Smith JW. Diagnostic value of sinus-tract cultures in chronic osteomyelitis. JAMA. 1978;239:2772–2775. doi: 10.1001/jama.239.26.2772. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Waldvogel FA, Vasey H. Osteomyelitis: the past decade. N Engl J Med. 1980;303:360–370. - PubMed
    1. Norden CW. Acute and chronic osteomyelitis. In: Armstrong D, Cohem J, editor. Infectious Diseases. London, Mosby; 1999. pp. 43.1–43.10.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources