[Lymphocyte defects in chronic osteomyelitis. A prospective study].

In patients with chronic post-traumatic osteomyelitis, several deficits in immunological response were demonstrated. In a prospective trial of 20 patients with proven osteomyelitis, histological analysis of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood and in the infected bone tissue was performed. The effects of chronic osteomyelitis on lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood and in inflamed tissue were only slight. The T4/T8 ratio was diminished in only two patients and had no relationship to the clinical course. Interleukin 2 receptor determination was negative in 83% of biopsies of infected tissue. Osteomyelitis may possibly cause a defect in lymphocyte/macrophage cooperation.