Osteomyelitis of the symphysis pubis: a complication of cardiac catheterisation.

An elderly female experienced the onset of right femoral pain shortly after undergoing cardiac catheterisation. Her condition was later found to be Pseudomonas osteomyelitis of the symphysis pubis. The patient did not have any of the usual risk factors for Pseudomonas osteomyelitis, ie, intravenous drug abuse, contiguous surgery or trauma. The probable mechanism of bacteria seeding into a haematoma around the femoral artery and then spreading to the contiguous osseus structures is proposed for this unusual complication.