Nocardial Vertebral Osteomyelitis and Epidural Abscess of Thoracic Spine in an Immunocompromised Patient

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Author Info

Piyawat Bintachitt Rattanaporn Chamnan Weera Chaiyamongkol Wongthawat Liawrungrueang

Corresponding Author

Wongthawat Liawrungrueang
Department of Orthopedics, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand

A B S T R A C T

Vertebral osteomyelitis and epidural abscess caused by Nocardia brasiliensis is very rare. This report states the successful treatment of Nocardial vertebral osteomyelitis and epidural abscess of the thoracic spine. A 56-year-old Thai female presented with pulmonary nocardiosis and sudden paraplegia. Her underlying disease was Evans syndrome (immunocompromised host). Her physical examination and investigation showed vertebral osteomyelitis and a spinal epidural abscess, which was compressing her spinal cord (T4- T7). Culture pus and tissue specimens from the epidural spine were reported as Nocardia brasiliensis. The patient underwent standard treatment for vertebral osteomyelitis and epidural abscess by surgical decompression, debridement and prolonged antibiotic therapy with intravenous Bactrim (trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX)) for a total of 2 weeks, and then continued with oral Bactrim for 12 months. The patient’s neurological status had significantly improved at a 12-month follow-up. Nocardia brasiliensis osteomyelitis and epidural abscess are very challenging in their management. However, early investigation for diagnosis, followed by medical and surgical treatment they can have a successful outcome.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report

Publication history

Received: Wed 17, Jun 2020
Accepted: Thu 02, Jul 2020
Published: Wed 08, Jul 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Wongthawat Liawrungrueang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.AJSCR.2020.03.02