A case of Mycobacterium intracellulare pulmonary infection with vertebral osteomyelitis

A 78-year-old woman seen in June 2005 for chest abnormal shadows after 3 months of steroid therapy for vasculitis associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies was found in chest computed tomography (CT) revealed bronchiectasis and small nodules in the right middle lobe and left lingula. Sputum cultures were positive for Mycobacterium intracellulare. Based on a diagnosis of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteriosis, the woman underwent antimycobacterial therapy with clarithromycin, rifampicin, and ethambutol hydrochloride for 10 months. She was then admitted in June 2009 with right chest pain. Chest CT showed consolidation shadows with bronchiectasis in the right middle lobe and the left lingula and left pleural effusion. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that Th7-Th8 vertebral bodies had collapsed. A vertebral body specimen obtained by CT-guided biopsy was positive for M. intracellulare. Based on a diagnosis of vertebral osteomyelitis due to M. intracellulare, she underwent antimycobacterial therapy with clarithromycin (800 mg), rifampicin (450 mg), ethambutol hydrochloride (750 mg), and streptomycin (750 mg). After 4 weeks of antimycobacterial therapy, she underwent radical debridement and decompression surgery with anterior and posterior spinal fusion. Four weeks postoperatively, streptomycin was discontinued. We continued clarithromycin, rifampicin, and ethambutol hydrochloride for 18 months, and no recurrence was detected. Although vertebral osteomyelitis due to nontuberculous mycobacteria is rare, clinicians should consider the combination of nontuberculous mycobacteriosis and vertebral osteomyelitis in cases such at these.