Spinal fungal abscess mimicking as potts spine.

Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rarest form of spinal infections and is characterized by the presence of pus in the space between the dura mater, and the osseoligamentous confines of the vertebral canal. This can cause spinal injury due to direct compression or local ischemia. The major etiology of SEA is bacterial and tuberculous in endemic regions. The incidence of fungal spinal abscess is relatively low and <5% of SEA is attributable to fungi. We, here, report a case of 77-year-old known patient of chronic renal disease on hemodialysis that presented with low-back pain for 15 days and was subsequently diagnosed with SEA by magnetic resonance imaging, and causative organism was identified as Candida by culture. The abscess was surgically drained after laminectomy. The patient improved with surgery and antifungal treatment.

A 60-Year-Old Man with Gingivitis and Poorly Controlled Diabetes Developing Low Back Pain 1 Week Following Recovery from COVID-19 Diagnosed with Spinal Abscess Due to Streptococcus oralis.

BACKGROUND Streptococcus oralis (S. oralis) is a gram-positive bacterium and component of the oral microbiota that can rarely cause opportunistic infection in the immunosuppressed. This report presents a 60-year-old man from Hong Kong with gingivitis and poorly controlled diabetes who visited his chiropractor with low back pain 2 weeks following mild COVID-19 and was diagnosed with paraspinal, psoas, and epidural abscess due to S. oralis. CASE REPORT The patient tested positive for COVID-19 when asymptomatic, then had a mild 10-day course of the illness, followed by low back pain 1 week later, prompting him to visit his primary care provider, who diagnosed sciatica and treated him with opioid analgesics. He presented to a chiropractor the following week, noting severe low back pain with radiation into the gluteal regions and posterior thighs, difficulty with ambulation, and mild neck pain. Considering the patient's diabetes, widespread symptoms, and weakness, the chiropractor ordered whole-spine magnetic resonance imaging, which suggested possible multifocal spinal abscess and referred him urgently to a spine surgeon. The surgeon conducted testing consistent with bacterial infection, and referred to an infectious disease specialist, who confirmed S. oralis spinal infection via lumbar paraspinal needle biopsy and culture. The patient was first treated with oral antibiotics, then intravenous antibiotics in a hospital. Over 4 weeks, his spinal pain improved, and laboratory markers of infection normalized. CONCLUSIONS This case illustrates an opportunistic pyogenic spinal infection including paraspinal, psoas, and epidural abscesses caused by S. oralis in an immunocompromised patient following COVID-19 illness.

Spinal epidural abscess caused by Aspergillus spp masquerading as spinal tuberculosis in a person with HIV.

Spinal epidural abscess caused by Aspergillus spp is a debilitating form of invasive aspergillosis that can easily be misdiagnosed as spinal tuberculosis due to shared risk factors and clinical features. In this Grand Round, we describe a case of thoracic aspergillus spinal epidural abscess in a patient with underlying HIV infection. The initial diagnostic consideration was that of spinal tuberculosis. Consequently, despite positive microbiological cultures of Aspergillus fumigatus, antifungal therapy was delayed until histopathological evaluation of the affected tissue confirmed the presence of fungal hyphae. The patient showed an initial favourable response after surgical removal of the infected focus, but unfortunately never returned to premorbid functioning. This case highlights the importance of early diagnosis, urgent surgery, and prompt antifungal therapy for the management of aspergillus spinal epidural abscesses. Associated morbidity and mortality can be substantially increased if physicians fail to recognise this condition and do not institute appropriate and timely surgical and medical treatment.

Cefazolin versus cloxacillin as definitive antibiotic therapy for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus spinal epidural abscess: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: We compared the effectiveness of cefazolin and cloxacillin as definitive antibiotic therapy for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) spinal epidural abscess (SEA). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients with MSSA SEA from two academic hospitals in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, between 2014 and 2020. Patients treated with cefazolin were compared to those treated with cloxacillin. Co-primary outcomes included 90-day mortality, antibiotic failure, adverse reactions and recurrence. Inverse probability of treatment weighting using propensity scores was used to balance important prognostic factors and to estimate an adjusted risk difference. RESULTS: Of 98 patients with MSSA SEA, 50 and 48 patients were treated with cefazolin and cloxacillin, respectively. Mortality at 90 days was 8% and 13% in the cefazolin and cloxacillin groups, respectively (P = 0.52). The antibiotic failure rate was 12% and 19% in the cefazolin and cloxacillin groups, respectively (P = 0.41). The serious adverse reactions rate was 0% and 4% in the cefazolin and cloxacillin groups, respectively (P = 0.24). The recurrence rate was 2% and 8% in the cefazolin and cloxacillin groups, respectively (P = 0.20). The adjusted risk difference for mortality at 90 days was -1% [95% confidence interval (CI) -10% to 8%] favouring cefazolin. The adjusted risk differences for antibiotic failure, adverse reactions and recurrence were 1% (95% CI -12% to 14%), -5% (95% CI -11% to 2%) and -18% (-36% to -1%) respectively. CONCLUSION: Cefazolin is likely as effective as an antistaphylococcal penicillin and may be considered as a first-line treatment for MSSA SEA.

A tale of two unusual anaerobic bacterial infections in an immunocompetent man: A case report and literature review.

We report a case of an immunocompetent man who presented with Desulfovibrio fairfieldensis bacteremia, followed by an epidural abscess due to Parvimonas micra. Only few cases have described unique clinical features related to both organisms, and this report illustrates two distinct sequential, if not concurrent, syndromes due to these anaerobes.

Enterococcus faecalis infective endocarditis arising from chronic rectal prolapse in the setting of spinal cord injury.

A 45-year-old man had recurrent presentations with pleuritic chest pain and shortness of breath. Four months prior, he had developed cauda equina syndrome from a spinal epidural abscess in the setting of intravenous drug use, complicated by lasting neurological deficits and a rectal prolapse. On his final presentation, blood cultures taken in the absence of antibiotics grew Enterococcus faecalis from multiple sets. A transoesophageal echocardiogram confirmed tricuspid valve endocarditis. He recovered well post-targeted long-term antibiotics. Endoscopy confirmed a chronic rectal prolapse with multiple ulcers and was hypothesised as the source of bacteraemia. He subsequently underwent perineal rectosigmoidectomy. This uncommon sequela of rectal prolapse highlights several issues, including the management of neurogenic bowel dysfunction following spinal cord injury and the importance of early prolapse recognition and management. Finally, appropriate collection of blood cultures and correct use of echocardiography are critical steps in investigating infective endocarditis.

Nocardia kroppenstedtii: a rare pathogen isolated from the spinal vertebral abscess of a patient on long-term immunosuppressive therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Nocardia kroppenstedtii was isolated from the spinal vertebral abscess of a 78-year-old patient presenting with mid-thoracic pain and bilateral lower limb weakness and numbness. The patient was on long-term immunosuppressive therapy with steroids for underlying autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Investigations showed a T5 pathological fracture and vertebra plana with the erosion of the superior and inferior endplates. There was evidence of paraspinal collection from the T4-T6 vertebrae with an extension into the spinal canal. Analysis of Nocardia 16S rRNA (99.9%, 1395/1396 nt) and secA1 gene (99.5%, 429/431 nt) fragments showed the highest sequence similarity with Nocardia kroppenstedtii type strain (DQ157924), and next with Nocardia farcinica (Z36936). The patient was treated with intravenous carbapenem and oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for four weeks, followed by another six months of oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Despite the improvement of neurological deficits, the patient required assistive devices to ambulate at discharge. This study reports the first isolation of N. kroppenstedtii from the spinal vertebral abscess of a patient from Asia. Infections caused by N. kroppenstedtii may be underdiagnosed as the bacterium can be misidentified as N. farcinica in the absence of molecular tests in the clinical laboratory.

Pyogenic psoas abscess on the dorsal side, and bacterial meningitis and spinal epidural abscess on the ventral side, both of which were induced by spontaneous discitis in a patient with diabetes mellitus: A case report.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients are immunocompromised, particularly under poorly controlled conditions, and thereby they could develop rare inflammatory diseases, such as spontaneous discitis, pyogenic psoas abscess, spinal epidural abscess and bacterial meningitis. Herein we report a pyogenic psoas abscess on the dorsal side, and bacterial meningitis and spinal epidural abscess on the ventral side, both of which were induced by spontaneous discitis in a patient with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus. This case was very rare and interesting, because we successfully treated various infections with antibiotics over a long period of time, complicated by hyperglycemic crises, although the patient suffered severe bone destruction and required rehabilitation for a long time.

Antimicrobial therapy and assessing therapeutic response in culture-negative pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis: a retrospective comparative study with culture-positive pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis.

BACKGROUND: There are still controversies regarding the treatment and outcomes in culture-negative pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis (PVO). The purpose of this study is to investigate the antimicrobial therapy, assessment of therapeutic response, and outcome of culture-negative PVO compared to culture-positive PVO. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed with non-surgical lumbar PVO patients. The patients were divided into two groups based on the causative bacterial identification (CN group with culture-negative PVO and CP group with culture-positive PVO). The clinical features, use of antibiotics, laboratory data, and outcomes were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Seventy-three patients with 41 (56.2%) of the CN group and 32 (43.8%) of the CP group were enrolled. The CN group showed a shorter duration of parenteral antibiotics (45.88 ± 16.14 vs. 57.31 ± 24.39, p = 0.019) but a tendency of prolonged duration of total (parenteral + oral) antibiotics (101.17 ± 52.84 vs. 84.19 ± 50.29 days, p = 0.168). When parenteral antibiotics were discontinued or switched to oral antibiotics, the mean erythrocyte segmentation rate (ESR, normal range: < 25 mm/h), C-reactive protein (CRP, normal range: < 0.5 mg/dL) level, and visual analog scale (VAS) score of back pain were 42.86 ± 24.05 mm/h, 0.91 ± 1.18 mg/dL, and 4.05 ± 1.07, respectively, with no significant differences between the two groups. The recurrence rates of CN and CP groups were 7.3% (3/41) and 6.3% (2/32), respectively (p = 1.000). The presence of epidural abscess was the most significant factor for the identification of causative bacteria (p = 0.002), and there was no significant relationship between the use of empirical antibiotics before tissue culture and the causative bacterial identification (p = 0.194). CONCLUSIONS: The CN group required a shorter duration of parenteral antibiotics than the CP group. Discontinuation of parenteral antibiotics or changing the administration route can be considered based on the values of ESR, CRP, and VAS score of back pain. The presence of epidural abscess was the most significant factor for the identification of causative bacteria.

Increasing ear pain and headache.

Visits to the family physician, a specialist, and the ED prompted us to look beyond the initial diagnosis of acute otitis media.

Linezolid as salvage therapy for central nervous system infections due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at two medical centers in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-associated central nervous system infections are potentially devastating. Linezolid has good penetration into cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. In clinical practice, linezolid may be used to treat central nervous system infections caused by MRSA resulting from glycopeptide intolerance or treatment failure. However, the clinical experience of linezolid in treating MRSA related central nervous system infections is scarce. METHODS: From 2006 to 2016, patients aged ≥20 years who had central nervous system infections caused by MRSA treated with linezolid for more than 24 hours were retrospectively included from two medical centers. The demographic details, treatment response, side effects, and relapse of infection were reviewed. RESULTS: Sixty-six patients with proven CNS infection caused by MRSA were treated with linezolid. The mean age was 53.3 years. The diagnoses in this cohort consisted of brain abscesses (n = 19, 28.8%), spinal epidural abscess (n = 18, 27.3%), meningitis only (n = 12, 18.2%), meningitis with brain epidural abscess (n = 9, 13.6%), and spine device-related infection (n = 5, 7.6%). The main reasons to prescribe linezolid were glycopeptide treatment failure (51.5%) and glycopeptide allergy (48.5%). Ninety-one percent of patients were treated with linezolid for more than 14 days. The in-hospital mortality rate was 13.6%. The relapse rate after treatment was 16.7%. Drug-related adverse events (mainly cytopenia) were observed in 27.3% of patients, but none of the adverse events was fatal. CONCLUSIONS: In our retrospective study, linezolid demonstrated promising effect as a salvage therapy for central nervous system infection caused by MRSA, whether due to drug allergy or glycopeptide treatment failure.

Delayed diagnosis of an upper cervical epidural abscess masked due to crowned dens syndrome.

An 87-year-old Japanese man presented to our hospital with a 5-day history of fever and neck pain. On physical examination, his stiff neck indicated restricted movement, especially on rotation. CT of the head revealed calcification of the atlantoaxial joint consistent with crowned dens syndrome, and celecoxib was started. Four days later, he returned to our emergency department as his neck pain and fever had not improved. Pneumonia and a urinary tract infection were suspected. The day following admission, blood culture results were positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus A contrast-enhanced CT revealed an upper cervical epidural abscess at the level of C1-C2. He was discharged following 8 weeks of antibiotic treatment.

High risk clinical characteristics for pyogenic spinal infection in acute neck or back pain: Prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To identify clinical characteristics associated with pyogenic spinal infection among adults presenting to a community emergency department (ED) with neck or back pain. A secondary objective was to describe the frequency of these characteristics among patients with spinal epidural abscess (SEA). METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study in a community ED enrolling adults with neck or back pain in whom the ED provider had clinical concern for pyogenic spinal infection. Study phase 1 (Jan 2004-Mar 2010) included patients with and without pyogenic spinal infection. Phase 2 (Apr 2010-Aug 2018) included only patients with pyogenic spinal infection. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses for association of clinical characteristics with pyogenic spinal infection. RESULTS: We enrolled 232 and analyzed 223 patients, 89 of whom had pyogenic spinal infection. The median age was 55 years and 102 patients (45.7%) were male. The clinical characteristics associated with pyogenic spinal infection on multivariate analysis of study phase 1 included recent soft tissue infection or bacteremia (OR 13.5, 95% CI 3.6 to 50.7), male sex (OR 5.0, 95% CI 2.5 to 10.0), and fever in the ED or prior to arrival (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.3 to 6.0). Among patients with SEA (n = 61), 49 (80.3%) had at least one historical risk factor, 12 (19.7%) had fever in the ED, and 8 (13.1%) had a history of intravenous drug use. CONCLUSION: Male sex, fever, and recent soft tissue infection or bacteremia were associated with pyogenic spinal infection in this prospective ED cohort.

Differentiation between Tuberculous and Pyogenic Spondylodiscitis: The Role of the Anterior Meningovertebral Ligament in Patients with Anterior Epidural Abscess.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Differentiation between tuberculous and pyogenic spondylodiscitis is a diagnostic challenge because imaging often does not reliably distinguish the 2 entities and percutaneous biopsies are often culture-negative. The purpose of this study was to determine whether violation of the anterior meningovertebral ligament in the setting of anterior epidural abscess discriminates between these entities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of all patients with acid-fast bacillus testing and anterior epidural abscess diagnosed on spinal MR imaging between May 2014 and September 2019, with a final diagnosis of tuberculous or pyogenic spondylodiscitis. Six cases of tuberculous spondylodiscitis (mean age, 45.5 years; 80% male) and 35 cases of pyogenic spondylodiscitis were evaluated (mean age, 56.6 years; 49% male). Demographic characteristics were recorded. Cases were assessed for anterior meningovertebral ligament destruction on MR imaging, as demonstrated by the shape of the epidural collection. Segmental location of the infection was also assessed. Independent 2-sample t tests and χ2 tests of independence were performed to evaluate the significance of the difference between the groups. RESULTS: Five of 6 (83.3%) cases of tuberculous epidural abscess had an intact anterior meningovertebral ligament, and 0/35 cases of pyogenic epidural abscess demonstrated an intact ligament (P < .001). The presence of an intact anterior meningovertebral ligament had 83.3% sensitivity and 100% specificity for tuberculous spondylodiscitis, a 100% positive predictive value, and a 97.2% negative predictive value. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of an intact anterior meningovertebral ligament has high sensitivity and specificity for tuberculous spondylodiscitis-associated epidural abscess, though these results should be validated in a larger sample.

Septic arthritis of the lumbar facet joint. Case and literature review.

Septic Arthritis of the facet joint (SAFJ) is an uncommon but severe condition of the spine with only 61 cases published to date. Diagnosis is notoriously difficult and can take several months which can lead to significant delays in treatment. We report a case of a 52-year-old female with 2-month history of back pain diagnosed with septic arthritis of the left lumbar L4/5 facet joint and associated epidural abscess. She presented with no fevers, normal neurological examination and normal blood parameters posing a diagnostic challenge. In this report we conclude normal inflammatory markers cannot be used as exclusion criteria for the disease. We also review the body of literature to summarise the key features of the condition to assist clinicians in its diagnosis.