ABSTRACT

To evaluate the treatment and follow-up results of bacterial sacroiliitis cases, which are rare and hard to diagnose.

Five sacroiliitis cases were evaluated, consisting of three female and two male patients with a mean age of 56 years. One patient had pulmonary sarcoidosis and one had diabetes mellitus. Preoperative and postoperative X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging and test results were examined.

The mean follow-up time was 22 months. Preoperative biopsies were performed for two patients. The preoperative mean leukocyte count was 9120 units/μL, the mean C-reactive protein level was 35.71 mg/dL, and the mean sedimentation rate was 83.2 mm/sc. One patient received a two-stage debridement procedure, in which antibiotic cement was used in the initial stage. Onestage debridement was performed for the other cases. The organism responsible for the sacroiliitis was defined as Mycobacterium tuberculosis in one case, Staphylococcus aureus in two cases, and in the other two cases the organism could not be defined. At the last follow-up, the mean Majeed score was 83.4.

Hip pain, antalgic gait and fever are important symptoms in the diagnosis of sacroiliac joint infections, which are difficult to identify. The most frequent organism responsible for sacroiliitis was shown to be Staphylococcus aureus. Tuberculosis must be kept in mind when sacroiliitis is suspected.