Clinical features of chronic tibial osteomyelitis: a single-center retrospective study of 282 cases in Xinjiang, China

Number of visits due to chronic osteomyelitis increased year by year, with young and middle-aged male farmers and low education level as the main groups. Smoking and drinking were two considerable risk factors that should be attached to a great importance. No significant increase was found in inflammatory markers and lower positive rate of pathogenic microorganism culture was observed. Multi-drug resistant bacteria were common and S. aureus remained the most frequent pathogen. Elevated ESR had certain diagnostic value for osteomyelitis. Type III and type IV osteomyelitis accounted for a large proportion which posed great challenges for clinical diagnosis and treatment.