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.