TUBERCULOSIS OF THE SACRO-ILIAC JOINT

A Review of Seventy-five Cases

¹ Lakeville State Sanatorium, Middleboro

Because this series consisted of only seventy-five cases, undue significance should not be attached to the facts presented. However, some of the data in this review, when added to those of other authors, may serve to depict certain features regarding the nature, treatment, and outcome of the disease.

The following characteristics of tuberculosis of the sacro-iliac joint have been demonstrated:

1. The disease occurred in young adults, usually between the ages of twenty and forty years (79 per cent.).

2. It was commonly associated with tuberculosis in other parts of the body (83 per cent.).

3. Pain was the most common initial symptom (83 per cent.).

4. Abscess formation occurred frequently (79 per cent.), usually followed by the formation of a draining sinus.

5. The usual roentgenographic appearance late in the disease was bony ankylosis (in 94 per cent. of cases followed three years or more).

6. The mortality was higher when there was a draining sinus (44 per cent.).

7. The data suggest, but do not prove, that operative fusion of the involved sacroiliac joint is of value in hastening the desired end result.

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