Multiple huge abscesses of sacroiliac joint and hip: tuberculosis or pyogenic infection? Treatment and literature review

Abstract Background: Sacroiliac joint infection is uncommon in clinical. It's initial symptoms are usually nonspecific, often confused with tuberculosis, septic arthritis of the hip, osteitis of the ilium and lumbar disc herniation which make it difficult to early diagnosis. There is few report about the sacroiliac joint infection, especially with multiple huge abscesses.Case presentation: A 29 years old male who developed pain of the right buttock, and firstly was diagnosed as lumbar disc herniation, then sacroiliac joint tuberculosis. The therapeutic effect was not satisfactory. We performed surgical debridement for him and get the clear diagnosis which is staphylococcus aureus infection of sacroiliac joint. After thoroughly debrided, the symptoms disappeared with adequate and regular antibiotic therapy.Conclusions: For sacroiliac joint infection, clinical suspicion is low, the condition is uncommon, and the general incidence is unknown. It's presentation is diverse. So when encountered similar situations, the sacroiliac joint infection should be considered, and the pathogen should be identified, in order to treat it correctly as soon as possible.