Osteomyelitis Cure

Caused either by bone infection or traumatic injury or a weak system of immunity, osteomyelitis, in which a part of bone gets inflamed, is treated in many ways. The mode of cure depends on the severity of the condition, the age of the patient, and tolerance for the method of treatment or medication. Drugs, pain management procedures, and even surgery, if required, are employed to cure the infection and reduce any resultant complications in the long run.

Medication

• After one or more medical procedures such as blood tests, X-rays, CAT scans, MRIs, bone biopsies etc., are carried out to determine the extent of the condition, and osteomyelitis is confirmed, the first recommendation of doctors is administration of antibiotics, depending on the particular microorganism causing the infection and pain. Once the fungus or bacterium has been identified, the doctor chooses a drug containing a specific antibiotic which will fight the infection most effectively. In most cases, for the first two to four weeks the antibiotic has to be administered intravenously. In some severe cases, antibiotic administration might need to be done for a longer time, sometimes even for life. Care should be taken against the hazards of strong antibiotic side effects such as vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, along with occasional allergies. The doctor should prescribe medication to tackle these side effects as well. These drugs together should bring down the fever, inflammation, and pain in the affected area.

Surgery

• Surgery
  In serious cases of osteomyelitis, where antibiotics cannot effectively fight the infection, leaving the patient with little or no improvement, surgery might have to be undertaken for healing the condition. The kind of surgery depends on the kind of bone that has been affected. The doctor might have to open up the area around the infection in order to drain fluid or pus that has formed there because of the microorganism infection. In another procedure known as debridement, the surgeon might get rid of infected tissue and bone as much as possible. In this procedure, a bit of uninfected bone and surrounding healthy tissue are also taken out to be doubly sure of removal of all traces of infection. Any empty region resultant from the debridement procedure will be filled in by the surgeon with some grafted skin, bone, or muscle from other parts of the body, in order to mend injured blood vessels and encourage new bone formation. External medical fixators, such as rods, screws, or plates might be required to be inserted so the grafting is successful and the affected bone is stable and held properly in place. Before the patient is strong enough to withstand the grafting surgery, some surgeons might also place provisional filling material in empty pockets. In case of injury-related osteomyelitis, surgery attempts to remove any foreign particle or object from the infected area.