Osteitis Condensans Ilii

Written by: Dr Jeremy Steinberg – created: 10 May 2022; last modified: 14 March 2023

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Osteitis condensans ilii (OCI) is a benign cause of chronic low back pain whereby there is sacroiliac joint sclerosis of unknown pathophysiology. It can also be asymptomatic. It almost exclusively affects females, often following pregnancy.

Pathophysiology

Unknown. Suspected to be mechanical.

Clinical Features

Chronic sacral spinal pain.

Imaging

On AP plain films there is a well defined triangular area of sclerosis on the iliac aspect of the bilateral sacroiliac joints. The joint space is relatively well preserved.

On MRI there is extensive sclerosis especially on the iliac side of the sacroiliac joints.

Differential Diagnosis

The most important differential is axial sponyloarthritis.

Similarities and differences between sacroiliitis of spondyloarthritis with osteitis condensans ilii.

	Sacroiliitis of spondyloarthritis	Osteitis condensans ilii
Similarities	Involvement of both sacroiliac joints and subchondral sclerosis
Differences	Young male Low back pain and morning stiffness Subchondral erosion and ankylosis in late phase Subchondral reactive sclerosis in both sides of sacroiliac joints	Young female Clinically silent or mild low back pain No bone erosion or bony ankylosis Well defined sclerotic lesion mainly in iliac side

Management

Unknown. Consider physiotherapy, NSAIDs, corticosteroid injection.

Further Reading

Osteitis Condsans Ilii - Mitra 2009.pdf - 208 KB (f)

Literature Review

Literature Review

Reviews from the last 7 years: review articles, free review articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, NCBI Bookshelf

Articles from all years: PubMed search, Google Scholar search.

TRIP Database: clinical publications about evidence-based medicine.

Other Wikis: Radiopaedia, Wikipedia Search, Wikipedia I Feel Lucky, Orthobullets,