Bone and Joint Tuberculosis: The Experience From a Tuberculosis Department in Northern Greece

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) of bones and joints is a relatively rare manifestation of the disease. Biopsy is the key to diagnosing it, while chemotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment. Some patients need surgery in addition to anti-TB drugs. We present a series of eight cases of bone and joint TB. Method: The files of the patients with TB diagnosed and treated at the Pulmonary Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.) between 2013 and 2022 were reviewed. Patients with a bone or joint infection due to M. tuberculosis were selected. Cases Presentation: During these ten years, 307 cases of TB were found. Eight of them were TB of bones and joints (2.6%). Six patients were men and two women, with a mean age of 53.5 years and a standard deviation of 18.2 years. Half of them were native Greeks. The spine was involved in 4 cases, while two of the patients also had pulmonary TB. In seven cases, M. tuberculosis DNA was detected by PCR. Chemotherapy with anti-TB drugs was administered to all eight patients, with three of them undergoing surgery in addition to anti-TB medication. The minimum treatment duration was twelve months. Six out of eight cases had a good outcome. Conclusions: TB is a rare cause of infection of bones and joints; however, it should be included in the differential diagnosis of bone lesions. PCR for M. tuberculosis seems to have significantly good results in microbiological confirmation of osteoarticular TB.