Osteomyelitis

- Osteomyelitis is a common issue.  Usually you find infections or cancer at the lower end of the femur, or the higher end of the tibia.
- The upper end of the tibial shaft is one of the most common sites for acute osteomyelitis.
- Fortunately, the capsule of the knee joint is attached closely around the articular surfaces so that the upper extremity of the tibial dyaphysis is extracapsular; involvement of the knee joint therefore only occurs in the late and neglected case.
- Acute osteomyelitis of the upper femoral metaphysis will involve the neck, which is intracapsular and which will therefore rapidly produce a secondary pyogenic arthritis of the hip joint.
- Compound fractures are when skin grows into the bone.  These types of fractures can result in osteomyelitis, and require rigorous antibiotics.