Postoperative pubic osteomyelitis misdiagnosed as osteitis pubis: report of four cases and review.

Osteitis pubis is a painful inflammatory process resulting in bony destruction of the margins of the symphysis pubis. Despite six decades of speculation, the pathogenesis of, criteria for diagnosis of, natural history of, and optimal therapy for osteitis pubis remain controversial. We present four cases of postoperative pubic osteomyelitis that were initially thought to be typical cases of osteitis pubis.