[Sclerosing osteomyelitis of the femur and thrombocytosis. A case report].

We present the case of a 13 year-old boy who had chronic sclerosing osteomyelitis of the right femur in whom S. aureus was confirmed as the etiologic agent. Typical picture was apparent after one year period in which there were two hospital admissions. Only soft tissue infection of the right thigh was misdiagnosed in the first admission in spite of gammagraphic evidence of bone recording at the distal right femur. In the second admission, formal bone infection with a special pattern was diagnosed as a chronic sclerosing osteomyelitis, since the following criteria were addressed: 1) clinical features of infection, 2) laboratory features for infection, 3) low-virulence bacteriae, 4) an unusually high organic and tissue reaction which involved thrombocytosis in this patient, 5) bone sclerosis and hypertrophic bone response, 6) a very slow production of pus, and 7) chronicity.