Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37730826›Full record

SynthesisScientific reports2023

Conservative versus early surgical treatment in the management of pyogenic spondylodiscitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Santhosh G Thavarajasingam, Kalyan V Vemulapalli, Sajeenth Vishnu K, Hariharan Subbiah Ponniah, Alexander Sanchez-Maroto Vogel, Robert Vardanyan, Jonathan Neuhoff, Andreas Kramer, Ehab Shiban, Florian Ringel and 2 more

Open access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed
17.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

50 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. When infection becomes architecture: structural predictors of surgical management in spondylodiscitis.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 · 2026
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Santhosh G ThavarajasingamFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St Dunstan's Road, London, W6 8RP, UK. santhosh.thavarajasingam@unimedizin-mainz.de.
Kalyan V VemulapalliFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St Dunstan's Road, London, W6 8RP, UK.
Sajeenth Vishnu KFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St Dunstan's Road, London, W6 8RP, UK.
Hariharan Subbiah PonniahFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St Dunstan's Road, London, W6 8RP, UK.
Alexander Sanchez-Maroto VogelImperial Brain and Spine Initiative, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Robert VardanyanFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St Dunstan's Road, London, W6 8RP, UK.
Jonathan NeuhoffCenter for Spinal Surgery and Neurotraumatology, Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany.
Andreas KramerDepartment of Neurosurgery, Universitätsmedizin Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Ehab ShibanDepartment of Neurosurgery, Universitätsklinikum Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
Florian RingelDepartment of Neurosurgery, Universitätsmedizin Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Andreas K DemetriadesEdinburgh Spinal Surgery Outcome Studies Group, Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh University Hospitals, Edinburgh, UK.
Benjamin M DaviesDepartment of Academic Neurosurgery, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospital NHS Healthcare Trust, Cambridge, UK.
Imperial College London · GBAddenbrooke's Hospital · GBKlinik und Poliklinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie · DEBerufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Frankfurt am Main · DENHS Lothian · GBUniversity Hospital Augsburg · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Spondylodiscitis is the commonest spine infection, and pyogenic spondylodiscitis is the most common subtype. Whilst antibiotic therapy is the mainstay of treatment, some advocate that early surgery can improve mortality, relapse rates, and length of stay. Given that the condition carries a high mortality rate of up to 20%, the most effective treatment must be identified. We aimed to compare the mortality, relapse rate, and length of hospital stay of conservative versus early surgical treatment of pyogenic spondylodiscitis. All major databases were searched for original studies, which were evaluated using a qualitative synthesis, meta-analyses, influence, and regression analyses. The meta-analysis, with an overall pooled sample size of 10,954 patients from 21 studies, found that the pooled mortality among the early surgery patient subgroup was 8% versus 13% for patients treated conservatively. The mean proportion of relapse/failure among the early surgery subgroup was 15% versus 21% for the conservative treatment subgroup. Further, it concluded that early surgical treatment, when compared to conservative management, is associated with a 40% and 39% risk reduction in relapse/failure rate and mortality rate, respectively, and a 7.75 days per patient reduction in length of hospital stay (p < 0.01). The meta-analysis demonstrated that early surgical intervention consistently significantly outperforms conservative management in relapse/failure and mortality rates, and length of stay, in patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis.

Indexed as

DiscitisSpinal DiseasesConservative TreatmentDatabases, FactualEarly Intervention, EducationalHumans

Identifiers

PMID37730826
PMCPMC10511402
OpenAlexW4386886217

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.