We present a 10-year-old boy with 2-month duration non-traumatic wrist pain and inflammatory signs. Due to elevated inflammatory markers on blood tests, with an increase in radiocarpal and intercarpal joints synovial fluid and no bony lesions, the patient was submitted to wrist arthrocentesis for the suspicion of septic arthritis. The patient did not improve on conventional treatment, however. An MRI showed synovitis around the carpus and a lytic lesion of the capitate bone due to osteomyelitis. A biopsy was able to identify the causative agent as , and the patient was treated with antibiotics. He improved significantly, with no pain and signs of normal capitate bone remodelling on the last radiograph.

No abstract

maternal education and the treatment outcomes with increasing sample size, but our results have not shown this.The limitations of this study include its retrospective nature with limited numbers, and the grouping of different tendon injuries for analysis, for example, injuries in different zones. Also, as mentioned, the complex social-economic factors associated with educational level has not been examined in detail. Future studies can explore these associations, but at present, our study would suggest the need to offer more support and counselling when treating children with lower parental educational levels.Acknowledgements The assistance provided by Osman Dag ˘, PhD, during biostatistical analysis was greatly appreciated.

Introduction. Bone and joint tuberculosis (BJTB) is rare in developed countries, particularly in the paediatric population. Hypothesis/Gap Statement. The clinical features and sequelae of paediatric BJTB in Europe are not well characterized and should be assessed to achieve a better approach. Aim. To assess the management and outcomes of paediatric BJTB. Methodology. Longitudinal observational study of all paediatric patients (0–17 years old) diagnosed with BJTB between 2008 to 2020 in a tertiary-care hospital. Results. We identified 18 patients with BJTB, with a median age of 10 years (IQR 6–14.8), 66.7 % male. Most (72 %) were diagnosed after 2015 and were foreign-born (88.9 %), mainly from Portuguese-speaking African countries, and none had HIV. The most common symptoms were pain (77.8 %), fever (50 %) and bone deformity (44.4 %). Spinal TB (STB) affected 13 (72.2 %) and extra-spinal TB (ESTB) 9 (50 %) patients, and 4 (27.7 %) had both conditions. Diagnostic positive procedures included positive nucleic acid amplification technique (NAAT) (44.4 %), Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolation (44.4 %) and compatible histology (33.3 %). All completed antituberculous drugs for a median of 12 months (IQR 12–13) and nine (50 %) had surgery. Overall, acute complications occurred in 16 (88.9 %) patients – 11/13 (84.6 %) with STB and 5/5 (100 %) with ESTB – and included abscesses, spinal compression, spine deformity and pathological fractures. Sequelae were still present at the 12-month follow-up in seven cases (46.7 %), and were more common in foreign-born patients sent to Portugal to receive medical treatment (66.7 vs 20 %). Conclusions. Paediatric BJTB is difficult to diagnose and has high morbidity, requiring long-term follow-up. Over the last decade, foreign-born TB seems to be increasing, with still longer treatment courses and more acute complications and sequelae.