ILIOPSOAS BURSOPATHIES - A REVIEW OF 12 CASES

Synovial cysts are far less common at the hip than at the knee and usu ally occur in patients whose hip cavity communicates with the iliopsoa s bursa, We report 12 cases of enlargement of the iliopsoas bursa, nin e men and three women, with a mean age of 48 years, The six patients w ith septic bursitis had severe symptoms similar to those seen in septi c arthritis of the hip, Chronic pain with or without a palpable inguin al swelling was the main symptom in the six remaining patients, some o f whom had compression of neighboring structures making the diagnosis more difficult, Ultrasonography is the best first-line investigation i n patients with an inguinal swelling, Computed arthrotomography with e xamination of the synovial fluid or magnetic resonance imaging should be performed as a confirmatory diagnostic test, Our series provides ev idence of the efficacy of appropriate antimicrobial therapy in septic cases and of corticosteroid injections into the bursa or hip cavity in nonseptic cases.