Septic conditions of the shoulder--an up-dating of treatment strategies.

We report the cases of 28 patients with bacterial infections of the shoulder treated between 1979 and 1991. There were ten cases of septic arthritis, ten cases of simple osteomyelitis of the proximal humerus, four cases of septic arthritis and concomitant osteomyelitis of the proximal humerus and four cases of periarticular soft-tissue infection. The infections, except for the cases of osteomyelitis, were staged by a "Classification of Exogenic Bacterial Infections" (CEBI).