Frequency of Discitis in Lumbar Discectomy Patients: A Two Year Study

Objective: Aim of conducting the study was to evaluate the incidence of post op discitis in lumbo-sacral disc surgeries.Materials and Methods: This observational prospective study was carried out in Neurosurgery unit Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar for 12 months (1st July 2017– 30thJune 2019).A total of 250 patients operated for lumbar disc surgeries were enrolled in the study, both genders and age range of 16-60 were in inclusion criteria.Patients with co-morbidities e.g., poorly controlled diabetics and immunosuppressed patients were excluded from the study. All patients were followed to calculate the frequency of discitis. Results: Among the 250 cases, 11 (4.4%) were diagnosed with discitis. 15% cases had slight sign and symptoms, pain and surgical scar tenderness not warranting the diagnosis of discitis. The mean age in this study was 37 years with Standard Deviation of 13.769. Male cases were 133 (53.2%) while females were 117 (46.8%). Discitis was more common at L4-5.Conclusion: From this data it was concluded that incidence of discitis is slightly higher in our setup than international discitis incidence/rates. The possible reason could be (to some extent) due to inefficient/poorly resourced infection prevention committee and partly due to less standardized OT system in comparison to international OT complex standards