Kuubiere B. Callistus, Abass Alhassan, Saeed F Majeed and Victor Mogre
Chronic osteomyelitis refers to inflammation of bone lasting 3 weeks or more which is most frequent among infants and children. This study looked at the incidence and associated factors of chronic osteomyelitis at the Tania specialist hospital, Tamale, Ghana. Information on patients with chronic osteomyelitis was retrieved from their folders. Using a standardized form, disease aetiology, age, sex and site of bone involved as well as previous orthopaedic operations were collected. Sequestrectomy, curettage, debridement, and lavage of wound with Ringer’s lactate solution; or incision and drainage, curettage, sequestrectomy, lavage of wound with Ringer’s lactate solution were done for all cases. Of the 43 cases, 65.1% were males yielding a male to female ratio of 1.9:1. With a mean age of 24.88 ± 16.97 years, the highest incidence of chronic osteomyelitis was recorded in the age group of 11-20 years; 37.2% (n=16). Over 70% of the patients were ≤ 40 years of age (72.1%, n=31). The tibia (65.1%) and the femur (18.6%) were the most frequently affected bones. The most frequently isolated organisms were Staphylococcus aureus (48.8%, n=21) and Pseudomonas spp (25.6%, n=1); no organism could be cultured from 1 patient. The incidence of chronic osteomyelitis was more frequent in males than in females and those aged 40 years or less. Over 70% of the cases that occurred in those less than 40 years were children. The tibia and the femur bones were the most frequently infected bones.
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