Osteitis Condensans Ilii

• General Considerations
  
  
  
  • Benign sclerosis of the iliac side of the sacroiliac joints
  • Bilaterally symmetric
  • Rarely unilateral
  • Radiologic diagnosis discovered serendipitously
  • Usually found in young females who have had several children but also may be seen in males
  • Related to remodeling of bone following stress across the sacroiliac joint
  • Other theories of etiology are that it is related to a urinary tract infection, or that it
  • May be related to a form of inflammatory arthritis

  Clinical findings

  • Rarely symptomatic but may be mildly painful
  • May have morning stiffness and polyarthralgia

  Imaging findings

  • Sclerosis is frequently triangular in shape with the base pointing inferiorly
  • Not to be confused with a sacroiliitis
  • Sacroiliac joint is intact in osteitis condensans ilii
  • Sclerosis involves only iliac side of joint in osteitis condensans ilii
  • Outer margin of sclerosis is usually well-defined
  • If in doubt, oblique views of the SI joints will show the joint to be intact and the sclerosis on only iliac side
  • May spontaneously resolve

Osteitis Condensans Ilii. This is a single axial image from a CT scan of the pelvis demonstrating sclerosis (blue arrows) on only the iliac side of the sacroiliac joints. The joints themselves are intact. The sacral side of the joint is normal.
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Osteitis condensans ilii WC Peh, MD Imaging Consultation American Journal of Orthopedics