Osteomyelitis treatment
Osteomyelitis is a condition where a bone gets infected after staph bacteria or fungal organism travels through the blood and attaches to bone. Ostemyelitis quite often happens after a minor or major fracture to a bone. People with HIV and Diabetes and those who have immuno suppressing diseases are more at risk for developing this type of infection called osteomyelitis. The person who develops this type of bone inflammation and infection experiences severe pain inside the bone and around the infected area of bone. They often feel tired and can become very weak as well due to the infection.
To determine the presence of ostomyelitis the doctor will order a blood test. This way they can pinpoint exactly which staph bacteria or fungal organism is causing the infection. A MRI is usually taken so the doctor can determine how much of the bone is damaged by the infection. A recently traumatized bone can be predisposed to this type of infection. When a bone gets infected like this it can end up dying because of a loss of blood supply to the infected bone and area. This condition becomes common in people who are over 50 years of age and break a bone. It is also common for children that break bones due to some type of accident. Adults over the age of 50 often break a hip, vertibra or pelvis bone because of a fall or osteoporosis. The hip and pelvis are common places for staph infections to occur, especially if a piece of metal is attached to these areas to stabilize them after a break.
A patient who is really sick or too weak because of the staff infection in the bone may have to be hospitalized. The person may have a fever along with pain and nausea. In these cases the infection must first be brought under control after a bone biopsy is done to determine the type of germ that caused the infection. The person is then given the appropriate antibiotic through the veins for up to six weeks. During antibiotic osteomyelitis treatments the patient may feel nauseous and have diarrhea. Often times treating this condition with antibiotics alone may not cure the infection. The patient treated with antibiotics only may end up having to take them for the rest of their life because antibiotics can never completely cure osteomeylitis. Often times the only most effective osteomyelitis treatment is amputation of the infected bone. When a bone can not be amputated then removing the dead part and rebuilding the bone is another option. Amputation or removal and rebuilding a bone are often the only effective and lasting osteomyelitis treatment.
One type of surgery that is performed to treat osteomyelitis involves draining all of the pus in the infection along with removing the dead part of the bone and damaged tissue, such as in a hip or vertebra. The physician will open up the area and drain the infection. Then the diseased part of the bone and tissues are removed. This procedure is called debridement. A very small part of healthy bone will also be removed. This is done to make sure all of the infection is taken out. The life giving blood flow is then restored to the bone in this area after a healthy piece of bone is then put back in and packed in with healthy tissues of skin or muscle from another part of the body. This procedure can then result in new bone growth. If there are foreign objects like steel plates or screws that were used for a broken bone prior to the infection setting in they will also be removed. If this surgical procedure is not possible amputation will be necessary to stop the spread of the infection to more bone.
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