The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 70, Issue 9 1383-1392, Copyright © 1988 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
A histological study of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis following physeal injuries in rabbits
JL Whalen, RH Fitzgerald and RT Morrissy
Department of Orthopedics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
In young rabbits, the effects of an intravenous injection of Staphylococcus
aureus alone, and in combination with a traumatic injury of the proximal
tibial physis, were studied by light and electron microscopy. Metaphyseal
osteomyelitis and radiographic changes were seen within forty-eight hours
after the injury in all rabbits that had a growth-plate disruption and
bacteremia. An intravenous injection of bacteria alone produced no
morphological or microbiological evidence of infection. In the absence of
trauma, normal tibiae were sterile after forty-eight hours. Foreign-body
particles have been shown to accumulate in the fine vessels that are
adjacent to the growth plate, but we found no similar deposition of
bacteria or evidence of phagocytic removal in this area. Phagocytosis of
bacteria by neutrophils did not appear to be impaired in the distal third
of the metaphysis, but a delayed inflammatory response that allowed
proliferation of bacteria and destruction of tissue was observed in the
proximal two-thirds of the metaphysis after trauma.
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