Post-traumatic Osteomyelitis of the Rib-point of Care In children, Presenting with chest Wall Pain

The rib osteomyelitis is a very rare entity and it hardly accounts for 1% of all cases of osteomyelitis. In this case report, we are presenting a case of acute osteomyelitis of rib in a very young child, with a previous history of mediocre trauma over the chest wall.

It is a case report of a young boy, who had sustained the blunt injury over the chest wall. The X-ray was unremarkable. After sometime, he presented to the hospital with the pain over the chest wall. Now, the X-ray showed the signs of rib osteomyelitis.

In children, the clinical presentation of rib osteomyelitis is very non-specific. Sometimes, the injury while playing, which is very usual in this age group may create the confusion. Hence, it may need high index of suspicion by the physician to include is as a possible diagnosis.