Are there any diagnostic tools that are useful for early surgical site infection (SSI) detection following spinal surgery? Does this diff er whether or not there was instrumentation?

Author: Maja Babic

RECOMMENDATION: C-reactive protein (CRP) can be used to diagnose early SSI following spinal surgery. A failure of CRP to decline or a second rise on postoperative days four to seven is a sensitive marker for infection following spine surgery, including both instrumented and non-instrumented spine surgery.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Moderate

DELEGATE VOTE: Agree: 86%, Disagree: 7%, Abstain: 7% (Super Majority, Strong Consensus)

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