An unusual manifestation of osteoarticular tuberculosis: case report

Although osteoarticular tuberculosis is usually presented as monoarthritis of the large, weight-bearing joints (predominantly hip, knee or ankle joint), or in the form of spinal disease, it is rarely seen as oligoarthritis. In this article, we present case history of a female patient with tuberculous oligoarthritis of the right talocruraljoint and left talocalcaneal joint. A 77-year-old female patient was admitted to our department due to the symptoms of painful and swollen right talocrural joint and left talocalcaneal joint accompanied with fever, general weakness and night sweating. Laboratory findings, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, whole blood count, liver and kidney functional tests showed no significant changes. Plain x-rays and magnetic resonance imaging of the affected joints showed demineralization, significant narrowing of joint space, erosions of articular surfaces, numerous calcifications, and ankylosis of both right talocrural and left talocalcaneal joint. Synovial biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of tuberculous arthritis. Our patient underwent triple tuberculostatic therapy with rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide, which resulted in the resolution of arthritis.