Systemic Antimicrobial Treatment of Chronic Osteomyelitis in Adults: A Narrative Review.

Chronic osteomyelitis in adults is a complex condition that requires prolonged and intensive antimicrobial therapy, but evidence on optimal selection and duration of antibiotics is limited. A review of PubMed and Ovid Embase databases was conducted to identify systematic reviews, meta-analyses, retrospective and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on antibiotic treatment outcomes in adults with chronic osteomyelitis. Three main areas of interest were investigated: short-term versus long-term antibiotic therapy, oral versus parenteral antibiotic therapy, and combination antibiotic therapy with rifampicin versus without rifampicin.