Abstract

COLLAZO ALVAREZ, Hiralio; PACHECO LOPEZ, Javier; GARCIA DE ROJAS, Lander  and  YANDUN QUIROZ, Juan Pablo. Lumbar vertebral osteomyelitis. Rev Cubana Ortop Traumatol [online]. 2013, vol.27, n.1, pp. 84-90. ISSN 0864-215X.

Surgical and medical therapy was shown in a case of vertebral osteomyelitis secondary to disectomy by means of a descriptive observational study conducted in a 50 years old patient affected by herniation of the fifth lumbar disk that had undergone open disectomy; who was admitted 15 days after this with a painful lumbar manifestation and hyperthermia of 39 °C. An updated review of the topic of vertebral osteomyelitis was made and the surgical and antimicrobial therapy followed in the patient was shown. After demanding sequential serial surgical debridements with continuous irrigation, the resolution of the infectious and radicular manifestation that the patient presented was observed. The negative impacts of the analytical investigations of infection were presented in the outpatient consultation after four months of evolution. It was concluded that, in the presence of clinical signs of infection such as pain and fever, it is important to indicate a CT-scan to a patient who had undergone open disectomy to observe the osseous percussion and operate on as soon as possible. The modality of demanding sequential serial surgical debridement with continuous irrigation with 0.9 % physiological saline solution and a sensitive antibiotic to the microorganism gives satisfactory results.

Keywords : vertebral osteomyelitis; open disectomy; postoperative infection.

        · abstract in Spanish | French     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )