Bone metabolism and inflammatory characteristics in 14 cases of chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis

Chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis (CNO) is a multifocal autoinflammatory disease that often impairs daily life in children. This study aimed to investigate the bone metabolic and inflammatory characteristics of patients with CNO, and to assess the differences between responders and nonresponders to conservative treatment.

We investigated the clinical symptoms; laboratory data including inflammatory and bone metabolic biomarkers; and imaging findings from plain radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), and dual-energy x-ray absorption (DEXA) in 14 patients with CNO. All patients underwent first-line treatment comprising systemic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with or without bisphosphonate. According to the response to the first-line treatment, the patients were divided into the clinical remission/partial response group and the no response group. The differences in bone metabolic and inflammatory characteristics between the two groups were assessed.

All patients had low bone mineral density assessed with DEXA. The bone metabolic biomarkers (bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b) were increased in boys of all ages and in young girls. Multiple inflammatory regions were detected in all patients by using FDG-PET including asymptomatic regions. The no response group had higher immunoglobulin G (IgG) and a greater number of bone inflammatory lesions detected on MRI than the clinical remission/partial response group.

Our data indicate the involvement of abnormal bone turnover, necessity of whole-body scanning, and association of higher serum IgG levels and greater numbers of inflammatory lesions with prolonged disease activity in patients with CNO.