[Medical treatment of osteoarticular tuberculosis]

The authors report 45 personal cases observed over the last ten years, from a series of 520 cases collected during a multi-centre enquiry of the French Society of Rheumatology and a review of the literature; they discuss the present tendencies in the treatment of bone and joint tuberculosis. Antibiotic and chemotherapy uses drugs which are more and more effective, easier and easier to manipulate, ensuring in almost all cases a lasting cure with frequent conservation of joint function, shortening the natural course of the disease, and preventing or curing its complications. The role of surgery thus becomes more restricted, the period of rest may be shortened and it may becomes less strict in many cases; on the other hand, physiotherapy is becoming more important in this treatment. As for the possibility of shortening antibiotic therapy, and although the experience obtained from lung tuberculosis is encouraging, the absence of comparably large series in bone and joint tuberculosis should make one circumspect.