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Infected Charcot spine
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Hospital Organization, Murayama Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
Study Design:
Case report of an infected Charcot spine following spinal cord injury.
Objective:
To describe this very rare pathological condition and the results of surgical treatment.
Setting:
A department of orthopaedic surgery in Japan.
Methods:
A 44-year-old man presented with a destructive lesion in the lumbo-sacral spine and a fistula in his back. Anterior bone graft, percutaneous external spinal fixation, and suction/irrigation of the wound were performed. After 4 months, posterior spinal instrumentation surgery was carried out.
Results:
Primary closure of the fistula and complete bone fusion was achieved after the operation.
Conclusion:
Infection of a Charcot spine, although a rare clinical entity, should be considered as a diagnostic possibility in the spinal cord-injured patients. External spinal fixation is a useful method for the unstable spinal lesion with infection.
