sacroiliac joints, hip joints and proximal femur. The first two are covered in Chaps. 10 and 19. The presentation and imaging features of osteomyelitis of the proximal femur are similar to that of any long bone and will not be discussed in this chapter nor will infections associated with sepsis from the intrapelvic organs. This chapter will concentrate on infections involving the pelvic bones and surrounding soft tissues.
Acute and Subacute Osteomyelitis
Incidence, Age and SexOsteomyelitis of the pelvic bones is rare with an estimated incidence of 1%-11% of all cases of haematogenous osteomyelitis (Beaupre and Carroll 1979;Edward et al. 1978;Evans et al. 1985;Morrey et al. 1978;Weld 1960;Young 1934). As with all osteomyelitis this tends to be a disease of children with an average age between 8 and 14 years (Highland and LaMont 1983;Mah et al. 1994;Rand et al. 1993;Sucato and Gillespie 1997;Davidson et al. 2003), although it is well recognised in infants and throughout adult life (Choma et al. 1994). There is an unexplained male preponderance of approximately two-thirds of cases (