See Also
1. Osteomyelitis
2. Suspected Osteomyelitis in Diabetes Mellitus
Findings: Early
1. Soft tissue swelling
2. Periosteal reaction (Subperiosteal elevation)
Findings: Later
1. Osteolysis
2. Sequestra (islands of necrotic bone)
3. Bone abscess (Brodie's abscess)
Efficacy
1. Test Sensitivity: 62% (43-75% in Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis)
2. Test Specificity: 64% (65-83% in Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis)
Limitations
1. Bone changes lag infection by 10-20 days
2. XRay changes not seen until 40-70% bone resorbed
3. Repeat XRay at 2 week intervals
References
1. Pineda (2006) Infect Dis Clin North Am 20:789
2. Termaat (2005) J Bone Joint Surg Am 87:2464

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised on 8/28/2008 10:25:48 PM. This page was last published on 2/26/2010. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.