Osteomyelitis of the clavicle in children

Osteomyelitis, although a rather common disease process in children and adolescents, only rarely affects the clavicle. In previously recorded series, the incidence of clavicular involvement has varied between 0 and 7%.1-7 Due to the infrequency with which the disease occurs, the diagnosis is often delayed or overlooked entirely. In the series reported by Srivastava, their average time from inception to diagnosis was over fourteen weeks.8 The presenting clinical features are not always succinct and revealing of clavicular involvement, making it incumbent upon the treating physician to become aware of this entity and harbor a reasonably high incidence of suspicion. It is our purpose in presenting this paper to describe three cases of clavicular osteomyelitis in children, to review the clinical findings, emphasize the diagnostic features, and discuss appropriate treatment.