Skeletal tuberculosis is a well-known disease entity. We report the first case involving hyoid bone and the use of polymerase chain reaction-based test in detection and management. A 62-year-old male presented with neck swelling of a 20-day duration along with change of voice and dysphagia. Examination revealed a cystic, osteolytic lesion of the hyoid bone which histopathologically demonstrated...

Introduction: Skeletal tuberculosis of the small tubular bones of hand and feet is less frequently encountered. It accounts for less than 1% of extra pulmonary tuberculosis with spine being the most frequent site of involvement. Small bones of hand area involved with greater frequency than the foot and condition is relatively rarer after the age of 5 years. Fine needle aspiration cytology is an...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic granulomatous infection caused by acid-fast mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli. Spinal involvement occurs in less than one percent of TB. Spinal TB (Pott's disease) accounts for 50% of skeletal TB. Though it most commonly affects the thoracolumbar junction, it can occur at any level of the spine. Early diagnosis and treatment is mandatory in order to avoid neurolo...

Tuberculosis affects a significant percentage of the world's population and is responsible for bone and joint infections particularly in the developing world. The problem has been compounded by the HIV/ AIDS epidemic. Whereas tuberculous involvement of the spine is readily included in a list of differentials for destructive lesions of the spine, infection in other skeletal areas is often not co...

Tuberculosis of the appendicular skeleton is an uncommon infection by tubercle bacilli. Thirty percent of the skeletal tuberculosis involves joints, the knee being the third most common joint affected. We report a case of tubercular synovitis of the knee joint in a 30-year-old HIV seropositive male. The diagnosis was done by Ziehl-Neelsen stain and culture on Lowenstein Jensen medium, of the sy...

Received 3/30/2010; accepted 4/16/2010. For correspondence and reprints contact:Yu-Chien Shiau, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Nuclear Medicine, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital. 21 Section 2, Nan-Ya South Road, Panchiao, Taipei 220, Taiwan. Tel: (886)2-89667000 ext.1223, Fax: (886) 289668378, E-mail: [email protected] Skeletal tuberculosis (TB) is a very rare disease comprising 1-3% of the total popu...

Tuberculosis (TB) of the musculoskeletal system is a rare clinical condition. Multifocal bone involvement is extremely rare and difficult to recognize. Thus, due to the diverse and atypical clinical manifestations of multifocal skeletal TB, the disease is easy to misdiagnose. In the present study, a rare case of atypical disseminated multifocal skeletal TB was reported, which exhibited uncommon...

Infection of the lumbosacral junction by tuberculosis is quite rare and occurs in only 1 to 2% of all cases of spinal tuberculosis; moreover, isolated sacrococcygeal or coccygeal tuberculosis is much rarer. Failure to identify and treat these areas of involvement at an early stage may lead to serious complications such as vertebral collapse, spinal compression, and spinal deformity. In the pres...

Tuberculosis has been a scourge of humans over many millennia, but questions remain regarding its evolution and epidemiology. Fossil biomarkers, such as DNA and long-chain mycolic acids, can be detected in ancient skeletal and other materials. The phthiocerol dimycocerosate waxes are also robust biomarkers for tuberculosis and sensitive methods are available for the detection of their mycoceros...