Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40337591›Full record

ArticleCureus2025

Unmasking the Hidden Culprit: Diagnostic Challenges in Thoracic Spinal Osteomyelitis Following COVID-19 Infection.

Kole P Joachim, Alina Katsman

Abstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

2 authors.

Kole P JoachimGeneral Internal Medicine, University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Westlake, USA.
Alina KatsmanGeneral Internal Medicine, University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Westlake, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Spinal osteomyelitis (SO) is a rare but serious infection of the vertebrae with occasional epidural involvement. Diagnosis is complicated by nonspecific findings that oftentimes mimic malignancy or tuberculosis, with typical methods of diagnosis such as blood culture and image-guided biopsy possessing varying levels of sensitivity. In this report, we present a rare case of SO that highlights these diagnostic difficulties. SO should be considered in a patient who presents with non-specific back pain. In such cases, non-diagnostic image-guided biopsy attempts do not rule out SO. Further investigations into additional diagnostic techniques to reduce false negatives are required to limit delays in diagnosis.

Indexed as

ct-guided biopsyinfectious diseasespinal osteomyelitisstaphylococcus aureussurgical debridementthoracic vertebrae infectionvertebral osteomyelitis

Identifiers

PMID40337591
PMCPMC12056565

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.