외상 후 발생한 Mycobacterium intracellulare에 의한 만성 관절염 1예

• Published in: Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases 2012, 72(2), 325, pp.191-196
• Main Authors: 김재경, Jae Gyung Kim, 김대원, Dae Won Kim, 조율희, Yul Hee Cho, 임선미, Sun Mie Yim, 강주현, Ju Hyun Kang, 주영빈, Young Bin Joo, 강현희, Hyeon Hui Kang, 송정섭, Jeong Sup Song, 윤형규, Hyoung Kyu Yoon
• Format: Article
• Language: Korean
• Subjects: Arthritis; Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection; Wounds and Injuries; 내과학
• ISSN: 1738-3536; 2005-6184

While nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) infections are recently on the rise, arthritis caused by NTM is hardly reported in Korea. NTM arthritis has no distinctive clinical characteristics from chronic arthritis. Tuberculosis of the joint specifically produces similar clinical and pathologic presentations to NTM arthritis, so it is not easy to distinguish between them. We report a case of Mycobacterium intracellulare in an arthritis patient after trauma and surgical repair of the injury. At the beginning, the patient was diagnosed as tuberculous tenosynovitis through pathology without microbiologic evidence. The final diagnosis was made after subsequent recurrences for several years. The misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis led to irreversible joint destruction and functional impairment. NTM infection must be included in the differential diagnosis of chronic arthritis at the outset.