A study published in Spine reveals spinal instrumentation in an infected spine may be safe.
Here are five things to know:
1. Researchers compared mortality, reoperation and reinfection rates in spine infection patients treated with antibiotics alone, antibiotics with debridement and antibiotics with debridement and instrumentation.
2. Out of the 84 patients included in the study, 49 men and 35 women with a mean age of 62-years-old had spine infections affecting the lumbar spine.
3. At 69.4 percent, Osteomyelitis and spondylodiscitis were the most common forms of infection.
4. The most common causative organism was staphylococcus aureus at 61.2 percent.
5. Patients treated with instrumentation and those treated with antibiotics and debridement experienced lower in-hospital mortality than patients treated with antibiotics.
Researchers concluded spinal instrumentation is safe in an infected spine and doesn't cause higher reoperation or relapse rates.
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