Effects of Inflammatory Disease on Clinical Progression and Treatment of Ischiogluteal Bursitis: A Retrospective Observational Study

Introduction: The symptoms of Ischiogluteal Bursitis (IGB) are often nonspecific and atypical, and its diagnosis is more challenging. Moreover, it is difficult to predict cases of chronic progression or poor treatment response. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the clinical course of IGB patients and identify factors that are predictive of failure of conservative treatment. Materials and Methods: Our study consisted of IGB patients diagnosed between 2010 March and 2016 December who had been followed-up for at least one year. Structured questionnaires and medical records were reviewed to analyse demographic characteristics, lifestyle patterns, blood tests, and imaging studies. We categorized the cases into two groups based on the response to conservative treatment and the need for surgical intervention. Results: The most common initial chief symptoms were buttock pains in 24 patients (37.5%). Physical examinations showed the tenderness of ischial tuberosity area in 59 (92.2%) patients, but no specific findings were confirmed in 5 patients (7.8%). 51 patients (79.7%) responded well to the conservative management, 11 patients (17.2%) needed injection, and 2 patients (3.1%) had surgical treatment performed due to continuous recurrence. There was no difference in demographic and blood lab data between the two groups. However, the incidence of inflammatory diseases (response group: 10.3% vs non-response group: 66.7%, p=0.004) was significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: The diagnosis of IGB can be missed due to variations in clinical symptoms, and cautions should be exercised in patients with inflammatory diseases as conservative treatment is less effective in them, leading to chronic progression of IGB.