title: Mycobacterium kansasii causing chronic monoarticular synovitis in a patient with HIV/AIDS.
abstract: Mycobacterium kansasii is a nontuberculous mycobacterium that primarily causes pulmonary disease in AIDS patients, however it has also been known, rarely, to result in skeletal infection. When skeletal infection occurs, the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis is up to 5 years in previously reported cases. We describe a 48-year-old woman with HIV/AIDS who presented with chronic, isolated left knee pain and swelling of over two decades which had recently worsened. Radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated marked subarticular erosions, synovial thickening, and bone marrow edema, which had progressed compared with prior imaging done seven years earlier. Synovial biopsy grew Mycobacterium kansasii. Following the presentation of our case, clinical and imaging findings, including the differential diagnosis, of monoarticular arthritis caused by Mycobacterium kansasii are reviewed and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Menashe
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Leslie Dubin
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hermann
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D019909:Mycobacterium kansasii / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013585:Synovitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: AIDS; HIV; MRI; Mycobacterium kansasii; Mycobacterium kansasii septic arthritis and osteomyelitis; atypical mycobacterial synovitis and osteomyelitis; atypical mycobacterium; knee; osteomyelitis; radiograph; septic arthritis; synovitis