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Case Reports
. 2020 Aug 10:8:2050313X20949781.
doi: 10.1177/2050313X20949781. eCollection 2020.

Vertebral osteomyelitis in an adolescent girl

Shafee Salloum  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Vertebral osteomyelitis in an adolescent girl

Shafee Salloum. SAGE Open Med Case Rep. .

Abstract

We present a case of a 13-year-old girl with vertebral osteomyelitis. She had been experiencing lower back pain for 5 weeks, initially thought to be due to muscular causes. The blood culture showed no bacterial growth, and she was treated empirically only with antibiotics. She responded well to treatment and required no surgical intervention. Vertebral osteomyelitis should be in the differential diagnosis in an adolescent who complains of worsening lower back pain. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential in avoiding complications.

Keywords: Infectious diseases; back pain; orthopaedics/rehabilitation/occupational therapy; osteomyelitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Spinal X-ray shows endplate irregularity is present at the inferior aspect of T11 and superior aspect of T12 with mild compression deformity of the anterior aspect of T11.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Sagittal MRI T2 shows abnormal signal and loss of the normal disc space at the T11–T12 level with destructive changes of the inferior endplate of T11 and the superior endplate of T12. In addition, there is fluid signal within the disc space extending anteriorly into the paraspinal space consistent with a tiny developing abscess (arrow).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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