The Diagnosis and Treatment of Spinal Infections—Series 2

Dear Colleagues,

It was a pleasure to collaborate as a Guest Editor in the Special Issue “The Diagnosis and Treatment of Spinal Infections” for the Journal of Clinical Medicine, which was published in 2022 (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jcm/special_issues/Spinal_Infections). Our goal now is to launch a second edition of the Special Issue, entitled “The Diagnosis and Treatment of Spinal Infections—Series 2”.

At present, spinal infections are a growing problem. The aging of the population, intravenous drug use, immunosuppressive conditions, multiple and complex comorbidities, and the increase in the use of invasive spinal and other medical procedures over many decades has contributed to an increase in the number of spinal infections.

Spinal infections are often difficult to diagnose. Back and neck pain are common complaints, and routine radiographs are of little help in the early stages of the disease. We should always consider spinal infections in the differential of new-onset back or neck pain in febrile patients, patients with endocarditis or recent Gram-positive bacteremia, or the previously mentioned high-risk patient groups. Fever is a common but inconsistent feature present in less than half of the patients with pyogenic spine infections, and even less so in fungal, mycobacterial, and brucellar infections. 

In the surgical treatment of spinal infections, the use of instrumentations within the infected area of the spine has been increasingly discussed. Despite concerns regarding the presence of foreign material at the infection site, many surgeons have suggested the use of instrumentation for spinal reconstruction or stability. There is no consensus about which treatment method is superior. Despite such debates, implants placed in active infections have been shown to be safe and efficacious in clinical studies. Changing antibiotic resistance patterns and a decreasing general health status may all play a significant role in this clinical problem.

This Special Issue on spinal infections seeks to find solutions to many unanswered questions that plague clinicians. Therefore, this Special Issue will provide a comprehensive focus on spinal infections, exploring current trends in the identification, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, and complications of spinal infections.

Dr. Sung-kyu Kim
Guest Editor

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• spinal infection
• aging
• immunosuppressive conditions
• invasive procedures
• diagnosis
• treatment
• instrumentation
• outcome

• The Diagnosis and Treatment of Spinal Infections in Journal of Clinical Medicine (6 articles)

title: Evaluation and Management of Pyogenic Spondylodiscitis (PSD)

Rick Placide, MD, FAOA, FAAOS

Professor of Orthopedic Surgery