Key findings of main studies discussed in this article
| Study and Year | Key Findings |
|---|---|
| McNamara et al, 20174 | Meta-analysis that reported image-guided biopsy to have a positive culture yield of approximately 48% in patients with suspected spondylodiscitis |
| Sertic et al, 20199 | Meta-analysis that reported that CT-guided biopsy had a positive culture yield of 33% in patients with suspected spondylodiscitis |
| Kasalak et al, 201810 | Initial CT-guided biopsy was culture-positive in 31.3% of patients with suspected spondylodiscitis |
| Repeat CT-guided biopsy (after initial negative biopsy findings) was culture-positive in 33.3% of patients with suspected spondylodiscitis | |
| 96.9% of 64 patients with suspected spondylodiscitis would have been adequately treated if a strategy was followed that would subject all patients without clinical findings suspicious for “atypical” micro-organisms and negative blood cultures to empiric antibiotics (ie, clindamycin for coverage of Gram-positive bacteria) without using biopsy results to determine the optimal antibiotic regimen | |
| Outcome within 6 months (development of neurologic or orthopedic complications, an operation, and/or death) was not significantly different between positive and negative findings on biopsy cultures in patients with suspected spondylodiscitis | |
| Özmen et al, 201911 | CT-guided biopsy was culture-positive in 33.8% with suspected spondylodiscitis |
| Kasalak et al, 201812 | Systematic review of 8 studies that reported that repeat percutaneous image-guided biopsy (after an initial biopsy with negative findings on cultures) had a positive culture yield ranging between 0% and 60.0% in patients with suspected spondylodiscitis, based on poor-quality evidence |
| Bae et al, 201813 | The species of blood and biopsy isolates in patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis were identical in 95.7% |
| Excluding 4 anaerobic isolates, antibiotic susceptibility patterns were identical between blood and biopsy isolates in 97.7% | |
| Kim et al, 201416 | There were no significant differences in treatment success (defined as survival and absence of signs of infection at the end of the therapy) between 75 patients with microbiologically confirmed pyogenic spondylodiscitis (whether by means of blood or biopsy cultures) and 76 patients with clinically diagnosed pyogenic spondylodiscitis without microbiologic confirmation |