Abstract
To evaluate the etiology and characteristics of vertebral osteomyelitis cases in our country, patients with vertebral osteomyelitis between January 2000 and December 2007 were included in this study. Clinical and laboratory data of the patients were collected from the medical records retrospectively. Of these 100 patients, 44 had pyogenic, 24 had brucellar, and 32 had tuberculous spondylodiscitis. The age of the patients ranged from 13 to 82 years, with a mean of (SD±) 55 ± 15.6 years. Within the pyogenic group, 10 (22.7%) patients had a spinal surgery history, and in 18 patients of the pyogenic group, an etiological agent was isolated. Ten (56%) of these 18 were methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. While all of the patients included in this study suffered from pain, 49 of these had fever. Sixty-nine percent of the patients had lumbar involvement. The etiological distribution may differ according to geographical areas. Although brucella and tuberculosis (TB) are endemic in our country, pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis was more frequent. The most common involved area in our patients was the lumbar vertebrae. Although thoracic involvement may be more predominant in tuberculous vertebral osteomyelitis, it does not strongly suggest TB. Magnetic resonance imaging may exclude some disorders mimicking vertebral osteomyelitis and may delineate the degree of the involvement. Microbiological and/or histopathological examination of computerized tomography-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsies are the mainstays for the diagnosis. Suspicion and early diagnosis seem critical for preventing sequelae development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berbari EF, Steckelberg JM, Osmon DR (2005) Osteomyelitis. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R (eds) Principles and practice of infectious diseases, vol 1, 6th edn. Churchill Livingstone, Philadelphia, pp 1322–1332
Currier BL, Eismont FJ (1992) Infections of the spine. In: Rothman RHü Simeone FA (eds) The Spine, 3rd edn, vol 2. W.B Saunders Company, Philadelphia, pp 1319–1380
Mylona E, Samarkos M, Kakalou E, Fanourgiakis F, Skoutelis A (2009) Pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis: a systematic review of clinical characteristics. Sem Arthritis Rheum 39:10–17
Jaramillo-de la Torre JJ, Bohinski RJ, Kuntz C (2006) Vertebral osteomyelitis. Neurosurg Clin N Am 17:339–351
Zimmerli W (2010) Vertebral osteomyelitis. N Engl J Med 362:1022–1029
Jensen AG, Espersen F, Skinhoj P, Frimodt-Moeller N (1998) Bacteremic Staphylococcus aureus spondylitis. Arch Intern Med 158:509–517
Pirest DH, Peacock JE (2005) Hematogenous vertebral osteomyelitis due to Staphylococcus aureus in the adult: clinical features and therapeutic outcomes. South Med J 98:854–862
Mc Henry MC, Easley KA, Locker GA (2002) Vertebral osteomyelitis: Long-term outcome for 253 patients from 7 Cleveland-area hospitals. CID 34:1342–1350
Lew DP, Waldvogel FA (2004) Osteomyelitis. Lancet 364:369–379
Modic MT, Feiglin DH, Piraino DW, Boumphrey F, Weinstein MA, Duchesneau PM (1985) Vertebral osteomyelitis: assessment using MR. Radiol 157:157–166
Colmenero JD, Jiménez-Mejias ME, Sánchez-Lora FJ, Reguera JM, Palomino Nicas J, Martos F et al (1997) Pyogenic, tuberculous, and brucellar vertebral osteomyelitis: a descriptive and comparative study of 219 cases. Ann Rheum Dis 56:709–715
Therese KL, Jayanathi U, Madhavan HN (2005) Application of nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) using MPB 64 gene primers to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in clinical specimens from extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients. Indian J Med Res 122:165–170
Lucio E, Adesokan A, Hadjipavlou AG, Crow NW, Adegboyega PA (2000) Pyogenic Spondylodiskitis. Arch Pathol Lab Med 124:712–716
Weisz RD, Errico TJ (2000) Spinal infections diagnosis and treatment. Bull Hosp Joint Dis 59:40–46
Tsiodras S, Falagas ME (2006) Clinical assessment and medical treatment of spinal infections. Clin Orthop Relat Res 444:38–50
Burananapanitkit B, Lim A, Greater A (2001) Misdiagnosis in vertebral osteomyelitis: problems and factors. J Med Assoc Thai 84:1743–1750
Colmenero JD, Jiménez-Mejias ME, Reguera JM, Palomino-Nicas J, Ruiz-Mesa JD, Marquez-Rivas J et al (2004) Tuberculous vertebral osteomyelitis in the new millennium: still a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 23:477–483
Buchelt M, Lack W, Kutschera HP, Katterschafka T, Kiss H, Schneider B et al. (1993) Comparison of tuberculous and pyogenic spondylitis. An analysis of 122 cases. Clin Orthop Relat Res 296:192–199
Concia E, Prandini N, Massari L, Ghisellini F, Consoli V, Menichetti F et al (2006) Osteomyelitis: clinical update for practical guidelines. Nucl Med Commun 27:645–660
Gasbarrini AL, Bertoldi E, Mazzetti M, Fini L, Terzi S, Gonella F et al (2005) Clinical features, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to haematogenous vertebral osteomyelitis. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 9:53–66
Moromizato T, Harano K, Oyakawa M, Tokuda Y (2006) Diagnostic performance of pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis. Intern Med 46:11–16
Corpataux J, Halkic N, Wettstein M, Dusmet M (2000) The role of laparoscopic biopsies in lumbar spondylodiscitis. Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech 10:417–419
Mann S, Schütze M, Sola M, Piek J (2004) Nonspecific pyogenic spondylodiscitis: clinical manifestations, surgical treatment, and outcome in 24 patients. Neurosurg Focus 17:1–7
Hadjipavlou AG, Mader JT, Necessary JT, Muffoletto AJ (2000) Hematogenous pyogenic spinal infections and their surgical management. Spine 25:1679–1688
Acharya S, Bhatnagar P (2004) Salmonella spinal osteomyelitis: a case report and review of the literature. Neurol India 52:499–500
Cha J, Hong H, Koh Y, Kim H, Park J (2008) Candida albicans osteomyelitis of the cervical spine. Skeletal Radiol 37:347–350
Torres-Ramos FM, Botwin KP, Shah CP (2004) Candida spondylodiscitis: an unusual case of thoracolumbar pain with review of imaging findings and description of the clinical condition. Pain Physician 7:257–260
D’Antonio D, Piccolomini R, Fioritoni G, Iacone A, Betti S, Fazii P et al (1994) Osteomyelitis and intervertebral discitis caused by Blastoschizomyces capitatus in a patient with acute leukemia. J Clin Microbiol 32:224–227
Celik AD, Ozaras R, Kantarcıoglu S, Mert A, Tabak F, Ozturk R (2009) Spondylodiscitis due to an emergent fungal pathogen: Blastoschizomyces capitatus, a case report and review of the literature. Rheumatol Int 29:1237–1241
Pigrau C, Almirante B, Flores X, Falco V, Rodriguez D, Gasser I et al (2005) Spontaneous pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis and endocarditis: incidence, risk factors and outcome. Am J Med 118:e17–e24
Galpérine T, Ader F, Judet T, Peronne C, Bernard L (2006) Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) in bone and joint infections. Med Mal Infect 36:132–137
Colmenero JD, Ruiz-Mesa JD, Plata A, Bermudez P, Martin-Rico P, Queipo-Ortuno MI et al (2008) Clinical findings, therapeutic approach, and outcome of brucellar vertebral osteomyelitis. Clin Infect Dis 46:426–433
Al Soub H, Uwaydah AK, Hussain AH (1994) Vertebral osteomyelitis in Qatar. Br J Cln Pract 48:130–132
Calvo JM, Ramos JL, Garcia F, Bureo JC, Bureo P, Pérez M (2000) Pyogenic and non-pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis: descriptive and comparative study of a series of 40 cases. Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin 18:452–456
Ariza J, Gudiol F, Valverde J, Pallares R, Fernandez-Viladrich P, Rufi G (1985) Brucellar spondylitis: a detailed analysis based on current findings. Rev Infect Dis 7:656–664
Tekkök IH, Berker M, Özcan OE, Özgen T, Akalın E (1993) Brucellosis of the spine. Neurosurgery 33:838–844
Solera J, Lozano E, Martinez-Alfaro E, Espinosa A, Castillejos ML, Abad L (1999) Brucellar spondylitis:review of 35 cases and literature survey. Clin Infect Dis 29:1440–1449
Belzunegui J, Del Val N, Intxausti JJ, De Dios JR, Queiro R, Gonzalez C (1999) Vertebral osteomyelitis in northern Spain. Report of 62 cases. Clin Exp Rheumatol 17:447–452
Schlesinger N, Lardizabal A, Rao J, Rao J, Mc Donald R (2005) Tuberculosis of the Spine experience in an inner city hospital. J Clin Rheumatol 11:17–20
Cotten A, Flipo RM, Drouot MH, Maury F, Chastenet P, Duquesnoy B et al. (1996) La tuberculose vertébrale. Étude des aspects cliniques et adiologiques à partir d’une série de 82 cas. J Radiol 77:419–426
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mete, B., Kurt, C., Yilmaz, M.H. et al. Vertebral osteomyelitis: eight years’ experience of 100 cases. Rheumatol Int 32, 3591–3597 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-011-2233-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-011-2233-z