Minimally invasive debridement and drainage using intraoperative CT-Guide in multilevel spondylodiscitis: a long-term follow-up study.

Background: Spondylodiscitis is an unusual infectious disease, which usually originates as a pathogenic infection of intervertebral discs and then spreads to neighboring vertebral bodies. The objective of this study is to evaluate percutaneous debridement and drainage using intraoperative CT-Guide in multilevel spondylodiscitis.

Methods: From January 2002 to May 2017, 23 patients with multilevel spondylodiscitis were treated with minimally invasive debridement and drainage procedures in our department. The clinical manifestations, evolution, and minimally invasive debridement and drainage treatment of this refractory vertebral infection were investigated.

Results: Of the enrolled patients, the operation time ranged from 30 minutes to 124 minutes every level with an average of 48 minutes. Intraoperative hemorrhage was minimal. The postoperative follow-up period ranged from 12 months to 6.5 years with an average of 3.7 years. There was no reactivation of infection in the treated vertebral segment during follow-up, but two patients with fungal spinal infection continued to progress by affecting adjacent segments prior to final resolution. According to the classification system of Macnab, one patient had a good outcome at the final follow-up, and the rest were excellent.

Conclusions: Minimally invasive percutaneous debridement and irrigation using intraoperative CT-Guide is an effective minimally invasive method for the treatment of multilevel spondylodiscitis.