European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON SPINAL INFECTION AND DERIVING A MANAGEMENT ALGORITHM

Dr. R. Selvan, Ms. Mch and *Dr. S. Subikshavarthni, MBBS MEM

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The infection in vertebral body, disc space and the intra and extra spinal structures is together called as Spinal infection. The treatment of such infection is multifaceted as it contains medical management alone or along with surgical intervention to drain infective pus or to debride the infected part and fuse the body. Aims and objectives: This study is planned in such a way to evaluate the presentation of spinal infection and also to derive a practical algorithm to be followed in spinal infections by applying the authors experience and also based on previous studies. Methodology: A total of 100 cases of Spinal infection who were treated in neurosurgery department of Kanyakumari medical college were studied prospectively from January 2015 to June 2018. Conclusion: A methodological assessment could lead to diagnostic effectiveness of spinal infection. Towards this, we present a management algorithm based on our study findings and previous literature.

Keywords: Spinal infection, discitis, caries spine, surgical site infection.