Article
Infectious spinal disease after paraspinal injections
Entzündliche Wirbelsäulenerkrankungen nach paraspinalen Injektionen
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Published: | April 11, 2007 |
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Objective: Infectious spinal disease is encountered with increasing frequency after paraspinal injections. We analysed the circumstances of the presentation of infectious spinal disease in cases of patients treated between 2003 and 2006.
Methods: In a retrospective study, we analysed 33 cases of patients we operated on for spinal empyema or spondylodiscitis between 2003 and 2006.
Results: Nearly 50% of patients were between 60 and 70 years old. 2 patients were under 50 and 1 patient was over 80 years old. In 10 cases one or more injections of analgetic agents because of spinal pain were reported. In one case spinal empyema occurred after perioperative application of epidural anaesthesia and in one further case a puncture of the iliac crest was the cause of infection. There was conservative treatment of spinal pain in at least two other cases without paraspinal injections. In 8 cases, other infections were the cause of infectious spinal disease. A previous spinal operation was the cause in two patients. In 8 cases the cause of the infectious disease remained unclear.
Conclusions: In nearly one third of cases, infectious spinal disease was noted after paraspinal injections. Because of the frequent use of this treatment, spondylodiscitis and spinal empyema appear to have increased in recent years.