Emphysematous osteomyelitis: Report of two cases and review of literature

• Main Authors: Sachin Khanduri, Meenu Singh, Aakshit Goyal, Simran Singh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2018-01-01
• Series: Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging
• Subjects: anaerobes; computed tomography; emphysematous osteomyelitis; enterobacteriaceae; intraosseous gas
• Online Access: http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.4103/ijri.IJRI_28_17

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.