OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to elucidate the clinical characteristics of patients with spinal epidural abscess (SEA) and demonstrate the risk factors, treatments and neurologic outcomes. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and radiologic images of 35 patients admitted to our department with SEA between March 1987 and April 2011. While we performed decompressive lami...

Background: Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare but severe pyogenic infection of the space. Case presentation: A 60-year-old female with history High Blood Pressure, Chronic Renal Failure and non-surgical descending aortic aneurysm was hospitalized 10 days before its symptoms in intensive care unit for treatment acute infective endocarditis caused by Staphococcus aureus. She presented 24 ho...

BACKGROUND Thoracic epidural analgesia is a well established technique for postoperative pain relief after major abdominal and thoracic surgery. Safety remains a major concern because of serious adverse events including epidural haematoma, abscess and permanent neurological deficit. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and the long-term outcome of serious adverse even...

Fourteen cases of acute spinal epidural abscess are analysed. Postoperatively 6 recovered completely, 4 patients recovered enough to allow unaided walking, 2 died and 2 who were paraplegic pre-operatively remained so. The purpose of this paper is to remind readers of the existence of this condition and to plead for early diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment.

We describe a case of bacteremia due to imipenem-susceptible Shewanella algae. Despite treatment with imipenem, the patient developed a spinal epidural abscess, from which imipenem-resistant S. algae was isolated. The development of resistance should be monitored when S. algae infection is treated with imipenem, even though the strain is initially susceptible to imipenem.

These guidelines should not be construed as including all proper methods of care or excluding other acceptable methods of care reasonably directed to obtaining the same results. The ultimate judgment regarding any specific clinical procedure or treatment must be made by the physician in light of the circumstances presented by the patient. Vertebral Osteomyelitis, Discitis, and Spinal Epidural A...

BACKGROUND A spinal epidural abscess is a medical emergency. Despite urgent surgical intervention and adjuvant antibiotic therapy, neurologic prognosis remains variable and guarded. The optimal approach to managing this condition is debated with substantial variability in clinical practice, dependent on patient demographic and pretreatment neurologic status as well as radiologic appearance. M...

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This is a case report of a spinal epidural abscess, caused by Staphylococcus aureus, in a 3-year-old girl. The child presented with fever and hip pain, but without any neurologic deficit. After normal plain films and a normal bone scan were obtained, the diagnosis was made via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The neurosurgery and pediatric infectious disease teams evaluated the patient, and th...