title: Unusual presentation of calcaneal osteomyelitis. Twenty-five years after inoculation.
abstract: An unusual presentation of calcaneal osteomyelitis is described, where-by the infection remained undiagnosed for 25 years. The 36-year-old patient recently sought medical treatment for a reported ankle sprain, but the pain was recalcitrant to conservative care. Further investigation yielded a history significant for stepping on a chicken bone as a child, which entered the inferior lateral heel. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed what plain radiographs did not: a well demarcated lytic lesion in the body of the calcaneus. Intraoperative findings were consistent with an abscess of chronic osteomyelitis. The treatment included incision and drainage, antibiotic beads, and a tricortical bone graft.
authors.affiliation: California College of Podiatric Medicine, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Rogoff
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Tinkle
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Bartis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones; D002111:Calcaneus / Q000601:surgery; D002645:Chickens; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications*; D006365:Heel; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010019:Osteomyelitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D016868:Serratia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013997:Time Factors