SPECTRUM OF INTERVERTEBRAL DISC-SPACE INFECTION IN CHILDREN

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 60  (1) , 100-108
Abstract
Discitis, intervertebral disc-space infection and vertebral osteomyelitis form a spectrum of disorders with a probable common bacterial etiology. Forty-one children who had symptomatic narrowing of the disc space associated with fever and an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate were studied. The diagnosis of infection in the spine was usually delayed. Tc 99m polyphosphate bone-scanning was an accurate, rapid and safe method of establishing an early diagnosis of infection. A positive culture of blood or biopsy material was found in 34% of all the patients (half of the patients for whom cultures were obtained). The clinical and roentgenographic picture that develops is determined by the virulence and extent of infection and by the resistance and regenerative capacity of the host. Discitis in children is a vertebral osteomyelitis with disc involvement.

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