The main localization of spondylodiscitis was the lumbar spine (55%) followed by the thoracic spine (34%). The classification of patients into 3 grades of severity depends on clinical and laboratory parameters, the morphological vertebral destruction seen in radiological examinations and the current neurological status. Therapies are adapted according to severity and they include a specific surgical management, systemic antibiotic therapy according to culture and sensitivity tests, physiotherapy and initiation of post-hospital follow-up. 40.6% of patients are associated with neurological deficits, classified as severity grade 3 and treated surgically with spinal stabilization and decompression. 46.9% of patients corresponded to severity grade 2, with concomitant vertebral destruction were dorsoventrally stabilized. The 31 patients of severity Grade 1 were treated surgically with dorsal stabilization. From 1998 to 2013, the time from the onset of symptoms to the first surgical treatment was about 69.4 days and has not changed significantly. However, the time from admission to surgical treatment had been reduced to less than 2 days. Also the time of hospitalization was reduced and we see positive effects regarding the sensation of pain. 270 patients underwent surgery. We treated 89% dorsally and 21% dorsoventrally. With the spondylodiscitis severity code, a classification of the severity of spondylodiscitis could be established and used for a severity-based treatment. In addition, specific parameters for the treatment of individual grades of severity can be determined in a clinical pathway.

Background Spondylodiscitis is a chameleon among infectious diseases due to the lack of specific symptoms with which it is associated. It is nevertheless a serious infection, with 7% mortality of hospitalized patients, in large part because of delayed diagnosis. The aim of this study was to develop a diagnosis and course-of-disease index to optimize its treatment. Material and methods Through analysis of 296 patients between January 1998 and December 2013, we developed a scoring system for spondylodiscitis, which we term SponDT (Spondylodiscitis Diagnosis and Treatment) based on three traits: (1) the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) (mg/dl), (2) pain according to a numeric rating scale (NRS) and (3) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to monitor its progression following treatment. Results The number of patients receiving treatment increased over the past 15 years of our study. We also found an increasing age of patients at the point of diagnosis across the study, with an average age of 67.7 years. In 34% of patients, spondylodiscitis developed spontaneously. Almost 70% of them did not receive treatment until the first diagnosis using SponDT. Following treatment against spondylodiscitis, pain intensity decreased from 6.0 to 3.1 NRS. The inflammatory markers also decreased (CRP from 119.2 to 46.7 mg/dl). Similarly, MRI revealed a regression in inflammation following treatment. By employing SponDT, patients were diagnosed and entered into treatment with a score of 5.6 (severe spondylodiscitis) and discharged with a score of 2.4 (light/healed spondylodiscitis). Conclusion SponDT can be used to support the diagnosis of spondylodiscitis, particularly in patients suffering from back pain and elevated levels of inflammation, and can be used during the course of treatment to optimize control of therapy. Level of evidence IIa—evidence from at least one well-designed controlled trial which is not randomized

Recognised methods for the treatment of spondylodiscitis in correspondence to the immobilisation are systemic antibiotic therapy. However, the available data for recommendations of specific antibiotic therapy are very heterogeneous. The aim of this study was to focus on the adjuvant antibiotic therapy in surgical treated cases of spondylodiscitis and to reach a guideline regarding its application in patients' spondylodiscitis. Between 01.10.1998 and 31.12.2011 276 inpatient cases of spondylodiscitis were surgically treated, documented and included in the study. The study involved medical history, germ status, localisation and extent of spondylodiscitis and antibiotic treatment. Between 01.01.2012 and 31.12.2013 a further 20 cases of spondylodiscitis were treated according to a standardised treatment regimen of antibiotic therapy and included in the study. The age distribution shows a marked prominence of 60 to 80 year-olds, with a leading localisation of spondylodiscitis in the lumbar spine with 55 % followed by the thoracic spine (33 %) and the cervical spine (12 %). A constant observation during the study periods was the delayed diagnosis of more than 1 month of spondylodiscitis, so that about 60 % of the patients were not receiving any treatment for their disease at the time of hospitalisation. The aetiology of spondylodiscitis is very heterogeneous and remained unknown in 34 % of cases. However, diabetes mellitus appeared as a disease favouring the occurrence of spondylodiscitis since it was concomitant with almost 50 % of patients with spondylodiscitis. The bacterial spectrum is limited in our area to staphylococci, with a predominance of Staphylococcus aureus. At least about 10 % of the germs are multi-drug resistant. In 45 % of cases, pathogen detection was unsuccessful. Clindamycin is the most commonly used antibiotic in the treatment of spondylodiscitis and is used in 26.8 % in combinations with other antibiotics. The antibiotic therapy is administered for at least for 3 months. The significant decrease in inflammatory markers in the course of treatment shows the positive response of patients to therapy. The recommendations for antibiotic treatment of spondylodiscitis are very heterogeneous, so our goal is to standardise the therapy without reducing the quality and effectiveness of treatment. The results show that the calculated antibiotic therapy (CAT) with clindamycin is reasonable in the treatment of spondylodiscitis especially with the predominance of Staphylococcus aureus as pathogen. In addition, suitable antibiotic therapy should be administered in correspondence to a culture and sensitivity testing and should be maintained for at least 12 weeks, even when a reduction of inflammatory markers by 50 % after 2 weeks has already been achieved. It is noteworthy to point out the high probability of coexistence of spondylodiscitis with diabetes mellitus, so that spondylodiscitis should always be considered in diabetic patients with back pain and increased levels of inflammatory markers. A significant red...

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Objective: The German health care system increasingly incorporates clinical pathways as a tool to organize surgical, intervention or conservative therapies. Does a computerized clinical pathway offer advantages in severity-based surgical therapy of spondylodiscitis?Methods: A hospital has adopted a computerized system based on three severity grades of spondylodiscitis. From 01/01/2012 to 12/31/2013, 32 patients with spondylodiscitis were randomly chosen at admission and prospectively analysed with regard to duration, costs of treatment, pain level and inflammatory markers.Results: Of the 32 patients treated for spondylodiscitis who had not been transferred from another facility, 17 (53%) were treated according to a clinical pathway based on three well-established treatment regimens dependent on severity. The SponDT, as a parameter for the course of disease, was initially slightly higher in the pathway patient’s group (6.82) than in the control group (6.2). Compared to a control group (n = 15) there were differences in the total duration of stay (17.2 vs. 26.0) and the number of blood samples taken (7 vs. 10). No differences could be shown for the extent of documentation, the physical and neurological outcome, the level of pain and or the course of inflammatory markers. The most prevalent germ was Staphylococcus aureus (18.8%). In 43.8% of the patients, no infectious agent could be detected. Material costs and personnel-costs were significantly reduced in the pathway group (12,076 €) compared to 21,341 € in the control group.Conclusions: An IT-based clinical pathway is preferable for surgical therapy of spondylodiscitis based on three grades of severity and offers various advantages as a clinical and administrative regulative mechanism. The cost-effective treatment particularly stands out.