Minimally invasive percutaneous posterior instrumentation, along with anterior debridement and interbody fusion with bone grafting, is an effective alternative treatment for pyogenic spondylodiscitis, according to a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders.
The study aimed to compare percutaneous posterior pedicle screw instrumentation with the traditional open approach in treating pyogenic spondylodiscitis. Researchers retrospectively reviewed data for 45 patients treated for pyogenic spondylodiscitis with anterior debridement and interbody fusion followed by a second-stage procedure — either traditional open posterior pedicle screw fixation or percutaneous posterior pedicle screw fixation.
The study found that the average operative time for the percutaneous procedure was 102.5 minutes, while the average time for the open procedure was 129 minutes. The average blood loss for the percutaneous patients was 89 milliliters as compared to 344.8 milliliters average for the patients in the open group. Patients who underwent the minimally invasive surgery had lower visual analogue scale scores and required significantly less analgesia afterwards.
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