[Results of surgical therapy of bacterial sacroiliitis with primary arthrodesis]

Surgical treatment of pyogenic infections of the sacroiliac joint is indicated in cases of ineffective conservative treatment, abscess formation, septicemia, and neurological deficits. Between 1983 and 1990 in nine patients surgical treatment was performed for pyogenic sacroiliitis under this criteria. The surgical procedure included joint debridement, primary arthrodesis of the sacroiliac joint using a autologous bone graft, antibiotic therapy and postoperative immobilisation. Follow-up examination of 8 patients in average 47 months postoperatively revealed excellent functional and roentgenological results in 6 patients. Two patients suffered only from mild low-back pain, none of the eight patients demonstrated signs of a recurrent infection, one patient died due to complications of a long-lasting preoperative septicemia. Regarding these postoperative follow-up results surgical therapy including primary sacroiliac arthrodesis should be early considered, because this treatment has a low complication rate and the surgical technique is easy to perform and results are excellent or good in most of the patients.