Pumice stone sign

Last revised by Rohit Sharma on 30 Mar 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Sarangi P, Sharma R, Guan H, et al. Pumice stone sign. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 24 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-90709

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-90709

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/90709

rID:

90709

Article created:

27 Jun 2021, Pradosh Kumar Sarangi

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Pradosh Kumar Sarangi had no recorded disclosures.

View Pradosh Kumar Sarangi's current disclosures

Last revised:

30 Mar 2024, Rohit Sharma ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Rohit Sharma had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Rohit Sharma's current disclosures

Revisions:

7 times, by 5 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal

Sections:

Signs

Tags:

emphysematous osteomyelitis

Synonyms:

Pumice stone sign in emphyematous osteomyelitis

The pumice stone sign describes the distinctive imaging appearance of emphysematous osteomyelitis on CT described as clusters of greater than 3 distinct foci of intramedullary gas with irregularly irregular sizes ranging between 2 and 5 mm with resemblance to surface appearance of pumice stone. This sign is seen in 96% of cases of emphysematous osteomyelitis.^{1, 2}

According to one study ¹, most (79%) cases of emphysematous osteomyelitis were not associated with cortical destruction of bone unlike traditional osteomyelitis. Hence this sign may help in early diagnosis and treatment of this life-threatening condition. Adjacent soft tissue emphysema (79%) is also a key imaging feature.