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Corresponding Author

Mohamed K Elkazaz, MD, PhD, MRCS

Subject Area

Infection

Article Type

Case Report

Abstract

Background: The most common lumbar puncture (LP) complications are low back pain and post-LP headaches. However, post-LP infection is uncommon and mainly involves meningitis, epidural abscess, or spondylitis because of direct bacterial inoculation from contaminated tools or the skin. We aim to present a rare case report of post-LP spondylodiscitis and a review of the literature.

Case report: A 32-year-old man was admitted with low back pain that limited his mobility, and his history indicated that he had undergone LP three months before to survey for subarachnoid headaches. A month later, the patient was referred to the Spinal Unit at Queens Medical Hospital with ongoing progressive back pain despite extreme pain optimization management. Lumbosacral magnetic resonance imaging revealed spondylodiscitis,

Conclusion: Spondylodiscitis is a serious condition that requires early diagnosis and management. Despite having normal septic markers, we suspected a spine infection because of the given history of LP and refractory back pain. MRI with STIR is a reliable, fast way to detect subtle infections in the spine.

Keywords

Infection, lumbar puncture, spondylodiscitis, lumbar spine, pain

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