Brodie's Abscess of the Patella
- William B. Miller, MD;
- William A. Murphy, MD;
- Louis A. Gilula, MD;
- Owen S. Kantor, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
IN 1832, Sir Benjamin C. Brodie described localized chronic osteomyelitis in the tibia.1 Since then, Brodie's abscess has been most often encountered in the tibial and femoral metaphyses and less commonly in the distal radius, ulna, or vertebrae.2 To our knowledge, this is the first complete case report of Brodie's abscess of the patella.
Report of a Case Three years prior to admission, at 24 years of age, our patient "smashed his knee on a pipe" with resulting stiffness and swelling that spontaneously resolved, leaving chronic exertional discomfort. After a year of recurrent pain and swelling, neither plain roentgenograms nor an arthrogram demonstrated any abnormalities. Since anti-inflammatory medication could not control symptoms during the next several months, arthroscopy was performed and demonstrated inflamed synovium, confirmed as synovitis by biopsy. Cultures of joint fluid were negative. Although therapeutic doses of aspirin attained partial symptomatic palliation for the following several
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, 510 S Kingshighway Blvd, St Louis, MO 63110 (Dr Murphy).
