Background: We report a series of six immunocompetent patients who were believed initially to have primary bone sarcomas, but turned out to have subacute osteomyelitis.
Methods: Case report and review of relevant literature.
Results: All our patients were treated with antibiotics and recovered fully from the infection. Only one patient had a recurrence with the same offending microorganism, which resolved after a longer period of intravenous antibiotic.
Conclusions: Subacute osteomyelitis and bone tumors can be similar in presentation, and the key to proper diagnosis is histopathological and microbiological confirmation in biopsy specimens.