Costal chondritis in heroin addicts: a comparative study with postsurgical chondritis.

Infection of the chondrocostal junction occurs infrequently nowadays. However, with the increasing incidence in the last years of intravenous drug addiction, more cases have been reported recently. The authors studied two groups of patients with costal chondritis, one of heroin addicts and the other of patients who had undergone thoracic surgery previously. While in the postsurgical group the patients need some kind of resection for their treatment, in the heroin addicts an early drainage is usually enough.