discitis

Possible complications include nerve damage, discitis, an infection of the disc.

In children whether to bed rest or move a little is decided on an individual basis, depending on the site and severity of the discitis.

Diagnosis can also be complicated due to the disease's similarity to discitis, commonly known as an infection of the disc space.

Nonetheless, discitis occurs post surgically in approximately 1-2 percent of patients after spinal surgery.

Learning Radiography X-ray photograph of a patient with discitis.

Additional measures may be called upon to rule out the possibility of discitis; such approaches include diagnosing the disease through various medical imaging techniques.

The size of the space can be altered in pathological conditions such as discitis (infection of the intervertebral disc).

The discs (discitis).

If untreated, the discitis may resolve on its own, cause a chronic low grade infection, or progress to osteomyelitis and possibly even an epidural abscess.

Both diseases are characterized by a patient's inability to walk and concentrated back pain; however, patients with vertebral osteomyelitis often appear more ill than those with discitis.

Discitis or diskitis is an infection in the intervertebral disc space that affects different age groups, but usually spontaneously affects children under 8 years of age.

It has been associated with vertebral discitis, urinary tract infection, meningitis, orthopedic infections, ventricular shunt infections, and endocarditis.

It is important to differentiate between spontaneous discitis which is usually from hematologic spread from a urinary or respiratory infection versus that from a post-operative complication which usually involves skin flora such as staph aureus.

Spondylodiscitis is a combination of discitis (inflammation of one or more intervertebral disc spaces) and spondylitis (inflammation of one or more vertebrae), the latter generally involving the areas adjacent to the intervertebral disc space.

Infections and tumors: Although they are not common causes of back pain, infections can cause pain when they involve the vertebrae, a condition called osteomyelitis, or when they involve the discs that cushion the vertebrae, which is called discitis.