Clinical Response to Treatment of Infectious Rachiditis

: Introduction: Spondylodiscites treatment is one of the most difficult aspect of Infectious Rachiditis (IR) management. The aim of the study is to recognize the efficacy of drug therapy and associated side effects of the treatment of IR. Material and methods: The study included 103 patients who presented to Service of Infectious Diseases, at University Hospital Centre in Tirana, Albania over the period January 2006 – December 2015. The diagnosis of infectious rachiditis was made according to clinical, radiological and microbiological criteria. Results: The mean age of patients was 58.1(±10.4) years with a range 16-75 years. 62% were males and 38% females. Male to female ratio is 1.6:1. The clinical neurological signs of patients are presented in table 1. Spondilodiscitis and discitis were most frequent signs in 37.9% and 16.5% patients respectively (p<0.01). Side effects were manifested in 56 (54.4%) of patients. Most frequent ones were gastrointestinal disturbances (17.5%), dermatoses (9.7%), hepatopathy (7.8%), glossitis (4.9%). Two cases (1.9%) had a fatal outcome, one of them had a periaortal abscess complicated to septic shock, while the other case suffered also from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Sequelae manifested 4 (3.9%) of the total patients. One case developed tetraplegia, two cases (1.9%) developed inferior unilateral paraplegia, one case (1%) had neurogenic bladder. Two (1.9%) cases manifested relapse of the disease. These findings are similar to those presented in different studies sugesting that IR treatment is a complex and a significant issue in many countries.