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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2018; 28(01): 78-80
DOI: 10.4103/ijri.IJRI_28_17
Musculoskeletal Radiology

Emphysematous osteomyelitis: Report of two cases and review of literature

Sachin Khanduri
Department of Radio‑diagnosis, Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Meenu Singh
Department of Radio‑diagnosis, Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Aakshit Goyal
Department of Radio‑diagnosis, Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Simran Singh
Department of Radio‑diagnosis, Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Emphysematous osteomyelitis is a rare condition characterized by the presence of intraosseous gas. A prompt diagnosis is required for this disease to expedite management as it is a potentially fatal condition. Many comorbidities, such as malignancy, diabetes mellitus, alcohol abuse, Crohn’s disease, and other etiologies causing immunosuppression, predispose to this condition. The causative organisms are generally anaerobes or members of Enterobacteriaceae family; however, the infection can be mono or polymicrobial. We report two cases affected with emphysematous osteomyelitis due to varied underlying comorbidities. The purpose of this study is to (a) emphasize the importance of computed tomography in diagnosing emphysematous osteomyelitis and (b) to highlight an unusual location of this rare pathology.

Keywords

Anaerobes - computed tomography - emphysematous osteomyelitis - Enterobacteriaceae - intraosseous gas


Publication History

Article published online:
26 July 2021

© 2018. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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