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Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 1995;24(3): 239-245. |
| Clinical Analysis and Long-term Results of Postoperative Lumbar Discitis. |
| Jae Tae Chung, Tae Sung Kim, Young Jin Lim, Gook Ki Kim, Bong Arm Rhee, Won Leem |
| Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. |
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| ABSTRACT |
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Discitis is a rare complication of disc surgery. During a 8-year-period, 1765 patients were operated for lumbar disc herniation and 28 patients(1.6%) developed postoperative discitis. The characteristic symptoms were severe back pain(75%) and muscle spasm(64%). The laboratory findings were an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate(93%) and mildly elevated white blood cell count(54%). In bacterial culture, staphylococcus aureus in three cases and Streptococcus epidermidis in one were grown. Typical radiographic findings were narrowing of the disc space and end-plate resorption. There was a high incidence of chronic low back pain in the patients with discitis at long-term follow up. We recommended treatment with both immobilization of the spine and the administration of appropriate antibiotics for more than 6 weeks. |
| Key Words:
Discitis; Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Chronic low back pain |
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