Garre's Osteomyelitis of the Jaws in A Child: Report of a Case Treated with Colchicine

Garre's osteomyelitis is a rare chronic inflammatory disease with reactive peripheral bone formation due to low-grade local infection.
Here we present a 12-year-old female with chronic osteomyelitis and proliferative periostitis with no definite source of infection, such as caries and periodontitis. The patient had a history of hospitalization 4-5 times with the same symptoms intermittently in the last two years at the referred hospital. The patient had undergone a biopsy at the referred hospital, and she was referred to our hospital with a histopathological diagnosis of osteoid osteoma. Physical examination showed a unilateral swelling in the right mandible at our hospital admission. Since we could not exclude the diagnosis of bacterial osteomyelitis, antibiotics were continued. Periapical radiography, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, and clinical features supported the diagnosis of Garre's osteomyelitis, so antimicrobial therapy was discontinued. Biopsy materials were reexamined by the pathologist at our hospital, and Garre's osteomyelitis was considered. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were started. We added colchicine treatment because she failed to achieve remission, and normal facial symmetrical morphology was not achieved in the two-month follow-up period. However, the symptoms regressed within one year, and the swelling disappeared.