Humorale und zelluläre Immunphänomene im klinischen Verlauf der chronischen posttraumatischen Osteomyelitis

The humoral and cell-mediated immune response was investigated in 90 patients suffering from chronic posttraumatic osteomyelitis. In 10-20% of the patients the serum IgG and IgM was increased, in 5-10% the levels were decreased. The values were compared with those of a control group of 35 normal healthy volunteers. Of 55 patients with staphylococcal infection only 25 had a positive antistaphylolysin titer. Eleven out of 25 patients with staphylococcal osteomyelitis showed a positive in vitro lymphocyte transformation after stimulation with α-staphylolysin (mean transformation rate 5.4 ± 0.9). The phytohemagglutinin and the pokeweed-mitogen response were normal. A comparison of the immunological reactivity of the patients and the clinical severity of the disease showed that patients with established delayed-type hypersensitivity phenomena suffered a significantly worse clinical course of the disease.