Incidence of vertebral osteomyelitis and benefits of spinal stabilization in infection

In order to evaluate the etiology, characteristics and outcome of the surgical treatment of vertebral osteomyelitis cases in our hospital, patients with vertebral osteomyelitis between January 2014 and December 2018 were included in the study. Clinical and paraclinical data of the patients were collected from the medical records of the patients. Of the 164 patients diagnosed with vertebral osteomyelitis in our clinic 94 underwent surgery and only these last ones were included in the study. Of these 94 patients, 18 cases were diagnosed with tuberculous osteomyelitis and 76 with nontuberculous osteomyelitis. The age of the majority of patients ranged from 40 to 80 years with a peak of incidence between 61-70 years. All of the patients had back pain and regional tenderness of the affected area and many cases presented neurological deficits. The most common involved area affected in our cases was the thoracic spine. Magnetic resonance imaging is the examination that reveals the degree of involvement and excludes other pathologies from the differential diagnosis. The majority of patients had several comorbidities which we included in the study. From all the patients included 76 % underwent surgery with decompression and spinal stabilization using titanium instrumentation and 24 % underwent surgery with only spinal decompression. We also evaluated number hospitalization days of the operated cases. An early diagnosis seems crucial for a fast recovery, lowering the hospitalization costs of both the patient and the hospital and preventing sequelae development.