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Test for Osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis is a serious bone infection, usually caused by another external tissue infection visible on the skin's surface. The bacteria that caused the external infection travel through the bloodstream and infect the bone. It is important to get diagnostic tests for osteomyelitis to catch the infection early before there is serious damage to tissue and bone.

  1. Who Can Get It

    • Anyone can get osteomyelitis, but usually young people who are prone to accidents get osteomyelitis most often. In children the large bones of the legs and arms are involved because broken bones, cuts and scrapes are most common here. Elderly people get osteomyelitis when a secondary condition such as diabetes or atherosclerosis causes poor circulation. If an infection occurs that can't be healed, due to poor circulation, the bone in that area can become infected. You can get osteomyelitis from surgery to fix a broken bone. This happens when bacteria enters the bone during or after surgery. Dental surgery or surgery to repair any broken bone also puts you at risk for osteomyelitis.

    Staph Infection

    • Osteomyelitis is usually caused by the bacteria staphylococcus aureus, or staph infection. Other bacterial organisms and fungi can cause osteomyelitis as well.

    Symptoms

    • If you have osteomyelitis you may notice that the area is hot to the touch and your skin is red and swollen. You will have severe pain in the bone. You might have a fever, and feel nauseated and lethargic. A sign of a problem is a wound or opening in the skin that does not heal, and pus drainage from it.

    Bacterial Lab Test

    • If you have an unusual infection or one that does not heal, go to your doctor for an exam. The doctor will inspect the wound and take a sample of the pus and send it to a lab to test for the bacteria staphylococcus aureus.

    Electronic Imaging

    • Your doctor might do a blood test to see if you have any indicators of the infection. However, it is a good idea to do more than a blood test to diagnose osteomyelitis. The doctor will generally confirm whether it is in the bone and not just the tissue surrounding it; to do this, she will probably do an X-ray, CT scan or MRI to confirm that the bone is infected.

    Bone Biopsy

    • Another effective test for osteomyelitis is a bone biopsy. Your doctor will remove a small section of bone to be sent to a lab to confirm the bacteria. Knowing the exact bacteria in the infection, or the exact strain of staph bacteria, will allow the doctor to prescribe the best antibiotics.

    Treatments

    • Antibiotics can usually cure osteomyelitis if it is caught early enough. Antibiotic treatment for osteomyelitis is longer than normal. To make sure the infection is out of the bone and does not come back, your doctor will have you take 4 to 8 weeks of antibiotics. If antibiotics do not work, your doctor may have to perform surgery to remove the infected part of the bone.

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