Acute staphylococcal hind foot osteomyelitis in a healthy adult: A case report.

Acute osteomyelitis of the hind foot is uncommon in a normal immunocompetent adult. We present a previously healthy 52 year old caucasian male who developed painful swelling of his ankle/hindfoot following closed soft tissue football injury. He had no antecedent systemic symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging and bone scan imaging, followed by surgical decompression and bone biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of Staphylococcus aureus hind foot osteomyelitis. He underwent triple fusion after debridement and had suppressive antibiotics. His pain and swelling resolved at 6 weeks postoperation and CT confirmed fusion at 6 months. His inflammatory markers normalised over the course of 7 months. After 18 months, he remained asymptomatic without any evidence of recurrence. This case represents an unusual and important variation of presentation of acute osteomyelitis in a healthy adult. It can be easily overlooked when a normal patient presents with pain and functional impairment after a closed soft tissue trauma, but a high index of suspicion is paramount because virulent organisms can infect immunologically normal patients. Copyright © 2011 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Olusegun Aiyenuro, Sajid Shariff. Acute staphylococcal hind foot osteomyelitis in a healthy adult: A case report. Foot and ankle surgery : official journal of the European Society of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. 2012 Mar;18(1):e12-5

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PMID: 22326012

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