Abstract
Introduction
Primary infection of spine disc is a pathology that we see more frequently, mainly because of the decompensated diabetes mellitus, and whose treatment is with antibiotics and limited physical activity for a long time.
Objective
Describe the outcome of surgical treatment of surgical debridement, culture/biopsy, and fusion with pedicle fixation in the same surgical procedure in a group of patients with intractable and/or clinical/radiographic instability with infectious discitis of thoracolumbar spine pain, trying to improve pain and functional limitation time.
Patients and Methods
A group of 15 adult patients from January 2010 to December 2013 with infectious discitis, detected with laboratory tests, imaging (X-ray, CT, and MRI) with a history of diabetes mellitus with thoracolumbar pain with various treatment regimens were studied with visual analog scale of 7 to 10/10, limited functional scale (Oswestry 70–80%), severe limitation of travel (within 100 m), to surgical debridement + culture/biopsy + pedicle fixation was performed and a clinical/radiographical follow-up of 6 months to 3 years.
Results
A significant decrease in pain intensity (60% of the initial pain intensity in the visual analog scale) was found, achieving a progressive improvement in functional scale in a period of time average of 6 to 8 months without detecting recurrence of infection, nor have major complications or deaths registered in monitoring patients with clinical and radiographical stability during the follow-up.
Conclusion
In this study, the results encourage aggressive treatment with instrumentation to improve intractable cases of pain and/or instability to shorten the period of immobility and inactivity of patients.