Pediatric Osteoarticular Tuberculosis as a Diagnostic Dilemma and a Review of Literature

Introduction Despite tuberculosis being rampant in the Indian subcontinent, most cases of osteoarticular (OA) tuberculosis (TB) are missed until significant bony destruction has occurred. Initial presentation of extra-pulmonary TB mimics many other disease entities while many diseases mimic TB. This may lead to an incorrect diagnosis and sometimes creates a dilemma in reaching the correct diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate a series of pediatric cases of osteoarticular TB, which posed a diagnostic challenge to us. Material and methods Retrospective analysis of case records of pediatric OA-TB patients who had presented to two tertiary level centers of urban India between February 2016 and December 2020 was done. There were a total of 69 patients. Observations There were 37 males and 32 females. The age range was from two to 17 years. Forty-four patients showed evidence of disease within the spine (dorsal region followed by lumbar, followed by the cervical spine), 16 showed disease of the extremities, six had disease of the girdle bones, and three showed disease of the short bones of hands or foot. In our series, patients presented to us between 15 days to six months from the onset of symptoms. From our series, six cases with atypical clinical pictures have been selected for presentation purposes. In all six cases, the initial presentation was not that of OA-TB. However, with a high degree of suspicion, differential diagnosis of TB was kept in mind, and the diagnosis was confirmed microbiologically. Conclusion A high degree of suspicion is required to avoid missing the diagnosis of osteoarticular TB. Non-invasive advanced radiological investigations such as MRI and microbiological analysis of biopsy specimens aid in arriving at the correct diagnosis.