Preservation of Spinal Instrumentation After Development of Postoperative Bacterial Infections in Patients Undergoing Spinal Arthrodesis

Abstract

A combination of aggressive surgical debridement with microbial-guided pharmacotherapy enabled infection cure in all patients with postoperative bacterial infections after spinal instrumentation. Adjunct measures including the use of wound vacuum devices and long-term suppressive antimicrobial therapy were also used in high-risk patients. These results show that postoperative bacterial infections in the setting of spinal instrumentation can be successfully treated without removing titanium alloy instrumentation.