Spinal Epidural Abscess in Children: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Background: Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare but serious infection in the epidural space along the spinal cord. SEA should be considered in patients with backache, fever, neurological deficits and/or spinal tenderness. Early diagnosis is imperative to prevent permanent neurological sequelae.

Case description: We report a case of lumbar SEA in a 13-year-old girl who was immunocompetent and presented with spinal tenderness, back pain and 4 days of fever. A lumbar magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated an epidural abscess from L3-S1. She had emergent surgical intervention. Cultures grew methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus. She was also given long-term systemic antibiotics and she made a complete recovery within 2 months.

Conclusions: SEA in an immunocompetent pediatric without risk factors is an extremely rare condition. In the English-language literature, there are only 30 reported cases in the past 19 years; our case brings the total to 31. Non-surgical treatment has been successful in both adult and pediatric patients under certain conditions. Still, there exists a risk of deterioration with non-surgical management, even in patients for whom treatment is begun in the absence of neurologic deficits. Tracking neurological deficits in children can be challenging, particularly in young children who are non-verbal and not yet ambulating, and a reliable neurologic examination is a critical component of non-surgical care. In consideration of these facts and the accelerated time frame of deterioration, once neurologic deficits are present, surgery plus systemic antibiotics remains the standard of care for pediatric SEA patients, with each individual case meriting review of the full clinical picture.

Keywords: Child; MSSA; Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus; Neurosurgery; Pediatrics; SEA; Spinal epidural abscess.