Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis. A new clinical-radiological syndrome.

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis is characterized clinically and radiologically by multiple, sometimes symmetrical, infectious bone lesions and a prolonged course over several years with relapses and new lesions. The distribution of the osteolytic bone lesions follows the pattern of acute haematogenous osteomyelitis in infancy and childhood. The aetiology and pathogenesis of this disease is unclear. A 5-year-old girl with this disease and 19 similar cases from the literature are reviewed.