Idiopathic nasal bone osteitis: A preliminary report on a recently recognized entity

Ear Nose Throat J. 2016 Aug;95(8):E38-42.

Abstract

Osteitis of the nasal bones is a rare disease; when it occurs, it usually has a known etiology. To the best of our knowledge, idiopathic nasal bone osteitis (NBO) has not been described before. We conducted a study to analyze the behavior of idiopathic NBO and its outcome and to determine a cutoff level for diagnosis using technetium-99m-methylene-diphosphonate (Tc-MDP) bone scanning. This retrospective, controlled analysis involved 9 women (mean age: 44 yr) who had been admitted to an otolaryngology department in Israel with idiopathic NBO over a 5-year period. Clinical evaluation, isotopic evaluation, and computed tomography were done. A lesion-to-nonlesion ratio was calculated between an area of interest on the nasal bone and a reference point (L/R ratio). The same ratio was calculated for a control group of 20 subjects. All the Tc-MDP scans in the study group were suggestive of osteitis. Intravenous antibiotic treatment was effective in all cases. A high degree of accuracy was achieved with cutoff L/R ratios of 2.05 for planar views and 2.34 for single-photon emission computed tomography views.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Nasal Bone / diagnostic imaging*
  • Osteitis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Radionuclide Imaging / methods*
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Reference Values
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Technetium Tc 99m Medronate
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*

Substances

  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Technetium Tc 99m Medronate