• Martin H Deininger, Miriam I Unfried, Vassilios I Vougioukas, and Ulrich Hubbe.
• Department of General Neurosurgery, University of Freiburg Medical School, 79106 Freiburg, Germany. martin.deininger@uniklinik-freiburg.de
• Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2009 Nov 1; 151 (11): 1451-7.

BackgroundMost adult patients with pyogenic lumbar or thoracic spondylodiscitis are treated with an external orthosis and antimicrobial therapy for several weeks to months. If surgical intervention is required, a combined anterior and posterior approach for debridement and fusion with autologous bone graft or titanium mesh cage is usually performed.MethodWe here report on our experience with the use of a minimally invasive percutaneous dorsal pedicle screw-rod spondylodesis in adult patients with pyogenic lumbar or thoracic spondylodiscitis.FindingsEight patients with lumbar, one with thoracolumbar and three with thoracic pyogenic spondylodiscitis with a mean back pain of 9/10 on the visual analog scale (VAS) and without corresponding neurological deficits were treated. Immediately after the operation, we calculated a significant reduction of the back pain on the VAS to 1.7, of leukocyte counts and C-reactive protein levels. After a mean of 61 days of continuous antimicrobial therapy during full mobilization, all patients were pain free, and leukocyte counts as well as C-reactive protein levels were normalized.ConclusionsWe conclude that minimally invasive percutaneous fixation is a feasible and effective technique to achieve immediate pain release, avoid long-term immobilization and overcome the disadvantages of a dorsoventral procedure. However, surgical complications and possible follow-up procedures supplement the patients' risks of adverse reactions of the disease.

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