Hardware infection

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-6-2018

Publication Title

Appl Radiol

Keywords

aged, antibiotic therapy, article, bacterium culture, bacterium detection, cancer surgery, case report, chemoradiotherapy, clinical article, debridement, device removal, emergency surgery, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, follow up, human, incision, male, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, paraspinal muscle, positron emission tomography-computed tomography, postoperative period, protein blood level, proctectomy, reoperation, rib, soft tissue, spine fusion, thoracic spine, x-ray computed tomography

Abstract

A 70-year-old man underwent a T9-T10 facetectomy with instrumented back fusion. Postoperatively, he developed a bowel obstruction and was found to have a rectal squamous cell carcinoma. Emergency resection was performed followed by chemoradiation.

A follow-up PET/CT was obtained 4 months’ status post-resection, which demonstrated suspicious uptake around the thoracic spine hardware. The ordering physician was notified of a potential hardware infection, but at that time, the patient was asymptomatic and had been recently seen in clinic without any evidence to suggest infection. Within 1 week following the PET/CT, the patient presented with a new abscess and drainage from his incision site. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein were both elevated. Cultures from the abscess grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The patient was taken back to the OR for debridement and hardware removal. He eventually made a full recovery after a prolonged course of antibiotics.

PubMed ID

Not assigned.

Volume

47

Issue

7

First Page

40

Last Page

41

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