ReviewActa neurochirurgica2018
Management of spinal infection: a review of the literature.
Review in Acta neurochirurgica, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03857295 (Clinical and Microbiological Analyses of Infections Following NeuroSurgery), which is not on this map. Cited by 163 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Clinical and Microbiological Analyses of Infections Following NeuroSurgery: a Retrospective, Single-center Study
Who cites it
163 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 290 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis of the efficacy of topical antibiotics in spinal surgery for the prevention of surgical site infection.Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and safety of percutaneous endoscopic debridement and drainage for spinal infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Pooled it
- Technical nuances and approach-related morbidity of anterolateral and posterolateral lumbar corpectomy approaches-a systematic review of the literature.Acta neurochirurgica · 2022Pooled it
- ＜Editors' Choice＞ Treatment strategy for upper cervical epidural abscess: a literature review.Nagoya journal of medical science · 2021Pooled it
- Practical Application of the AO Spine Primary Infection Classification System: Clarifying Definitions, Borderline Cases and Common Misinterpretations.Global spine journal · 2026Review
- Selective PET imaging of bacterial infection using a glycosylatedNature biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Risk factors and a diagnostic nomogram for early prediction of gram-positive coccal etiology in spontaneous spinal infection.Infection · 2026Article
- Comparison of Hospital Mortality and Risk Factors in Conservative and Surgical Treatment of Pyogenic Vertebral Osteomyelitis: A Nationwide Analysis of 49,951 Cases in Germany.Global spine journal · 2026Article
- Clinical utility of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in diagnosing spinal infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Review
- Impact of Culture Status on Outcomes in Vertebral Osteomyelitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 206 Patients.Global spine journal · 2026Article
- External Validation of the SITE Score for De Novo Spinal Infections: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Global spine journal · 2026Article
- Classification of spinal tuberculous infection, pyogenic infection and spinal metastasis from magnetic resonance imaging using machine learning.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Vertebral osteomyelitis caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria: a case series of 23 patients and a review of 108 cases in the literature.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Review
- Secondary vs. Primary Spinal Infection in Early Clinical Assessment: A Parsimonious, Leakage-Resistant Modelling Approach with Internal Validation: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Anterior Cervical Abscess Following Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Caused byJournal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Intervertebral disc puncture predisposes the disc to Cutibacterium acnes infection via hematogenous and contiguous routes: a rat model study.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2026Article
- The role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in spinal infections: A comprehensive diagnostic tool.Brain & spine · 2026Article
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- Spinal infections.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
103 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Spinal infection (SI) is defined as an infectious disease affecting the vertebral body, the intervertebral disc, and/or adjacent paraspinal tissue and represents 2-7% of all musculoskeletal infections. There are numerous factors, which may facilitate the development of SI including not only advanced patient age and comorbidities but also spinal surgery. Due to the low specificity of signs, the delay in diagnosis of SI remains an important issue and poor outcome is frequently seen. Diagnosis should always be supported by clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remaining the most reliable method. Management of SI depends on the location of the infection (i.e., intraspinal, intervertebral, paraspinal), on the disease progression, and of course on the patient's general condition, considering age and comorbidities. Conservative treatment mostly is reasonable in early stages with no or minor neurologic deficits and in case of severe comorbidities, which limit surgical options. Nevertheless, solely medical treatment often fails. Therefore, in case of doubt, surgical treatment should be considered. The final result in conservative as well as in surgical treatment always is bony fusion. Furthermore, both options require a concomitant antimicrobial therapy, initially applied intravenously and administered orally thereafter. The optimal duration of antibiotic therapy remains controversial, but should never undercut 6 weeks. Due to a heterogeneous and often comorbid patient population and the wide variety of treatment options, no generally applicable guidelines for SI exist and management remains a challenge. Thus, future prospective randomized trials are necessary to substantiate treatment strategies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.