C. Cazorla et al., Surgical treatment of spinal bone infections: prognostic significance of osteosynthetic material., MED MAL INF, 30(7), 2000, pp. 477-479
Objective - Post-operative infection in spinal surgery is a major complicat
ion, affecting 6% of the procedures, It is suspected that he presence of sp
inal foreign body increases this infection risk. The authors had for aim to
compare the outcome of spinal surgery infection according to the foreign b
ody's presence or not A single surgeon and a specialist in infectious disea
ses managed all the cases.
Methods - A retrospective study was performed at the University hospital of
Bordeaux from 1993 to 1999. The diagnosis of infection was made by the ass
ociation of infection symptoms and results of wound cultures and/or histolo
gy observed during surgery.
Results - During the study period, 17 patients became infected with a total
number of 26 infections. When the foreign body was not removed, recurrence
occurred in 78.6% of cases vs. 8.3% in the group with its removal (P < 0.0
01).
Conclusion - The risk of infection in spinal surgery is increased by the pr
esence of foreign bodies. in the majority of cases their removal is necessa
ry to obtain a favorable outcome. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medica
les Elsevier SAS.