Osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis is the medical term for an infection of the bone. This often occurs in patients who have stage three or stage four bedsores which have a large amount of exposed tissue and/or bone. Because of the open nature of bedsores, the risk for osteomyelitis increases with the severity of the bedsore itself. In those instances when bone and tendon are directly exposed, there is an elevated risk of infection and complications due to that infection.

Symptoms

Osteomyelitis can result in symptoms such as inflammation, pain, fever, nausea, and chills. Left untreated, osteomyelitis can spread throughout the affected bone and cause severe illness, potentially leading to the need for surgery, and in extreme cases, amputation. Chronic osteomyelitis may still recur, even if surgery is performed, as the repressed immune system found in some bedsore patients coupled with resistant bacteria leads to a higher risk of the infection reoccurring despite treatment.

Treatment

Typical treatment for osteomyelitis includes a full course of antibiotics, which may last for several weeks, or even months depending upon the severity. For infections that do not respond to antibiotics or that continue to reoccur, surgery may be performed to remove the infected bone. The bone that has been removed may be replaced by a bone graft or the inclusion of materials that will encourage the bone to re-grow. Unfortunately, for some elderly patients, as well as those who have chronic conditions such as diabetes, the recovery times for such treatments are long, and the results are not guaranteed. For diabetics especially, amputation may be the only option.