Treatment of Osteomyelitis

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Treatment aims to get rid of the source of infection and to prevent chronic infection from developing. If the infection is treated quickly, most people will have a complete cure.

Intravenous (injected into a vein) or oral (taken by mouth) antibiotics are started as soon as possible. The antibioic may later be changed depending on the blood culture results. The antibiotic will need to be taken for several weeks to completely get rid of the infection.

Occasionally you may need surgery performed under general anaesthetic to drain the pus if you have developed an abscess.

If the infection has become chronic, surgical removal of dead and infected bone is usually necessary, to allow the infection to clear. The space left by the bone that has been taken out may be filled with a bone graft to encourage new bone tissue to grow. Sometimes plastic surgery is also needed to cover the wound.

Some evidence indicates that surgery and antibiotics, combined with hyperbaric oxygen (this involves breathing oxygen in a chamber where the pressure of oxygen is higher than normal) may help recovery if you have chronic osteomyelitis.