What's new in exogenous osteomyelitis?

By the increase in road and occupational accidents during the past few decades posttraumatic osteomyelitis has become not only the most important type of exogenous but of all inflammatory bone processes. The major morphologic, bacteriologic and immunologic studies about posttraumatic bone inflammation will be outlined in this survey. The histologic classification of chronic osteomyelitis has proved useful for the observation of the course and for the selection of the treatment in 1,500 patients. Detailed morphological studies have shown that posttraumatic osteomyelitis often begins with a necrosis of the outer tangential lamella of the tubular bone partly promoted by partial periosteal retrogression, possibly followed by a necrosis of the fracture ends caused by a disturbance of the medullary blood circulation. Type and extent of osteomyelitis are determined by several traumatic, therapeutic and endogenous factors. Bacteriologically an infection with staphylococcus aureus is still prevailing. Comparative studies about the causative agents shortly after the trauma and during the following osteomyelitis have basically shown an identical range of causative agents. Immunologic studies with monoclonal antibodies in the actual site of inflammation have on the one hand found a decrease in the number of T-lymphocytes and the T-helper cells and on the other hand an increase in the T-suppressor cells, natural killer cells, macrophages in the osteomyelitic site. The impact of these findings on the therapy of osteomyelitis can presently not be estimated. However, they will become important after immunohistochemical studies of the bone and soft tissue Lager in osteosynthetic material after aseptic bone surgery have been carried out.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)