Antibiotics for treating chronic osteomyelitis in adults

Limited and low quality evidence suggests that the route of antibiotic administration (oral versus parenteral) does not affect the rate of disease remission if the bacteria are susceptible to the antibiotic used. However, this and the lack of statistically significant differences in adverse effects need confirmation. No or insufficient evidence exists for other aspects of antibiotic therapy for chronic osteomyelitis.The majority of the included trials were conducted over 20 years ago and currently we are faced with a far higher prevalence of bacteria that are resistant to many of the available antibiotics used for healthcare. This continuously evolving bacterial resistance represents another challenge in the choice of antibiotics for treating chronic osteomyelitis.