What is the optimal duration of antibiotic treatment following spine infection in patients within whom hardware is retained? Is the antibiotic treatment different for those with spine infection without hardware?

What is the optimal duration of antibiotic treatment following spine infection in patients within whom hardware is retained? Is the antibiotic treatment different for those with spine infection without hardware?

Authors: Susana Núñez-Pereira, Rabih Darouiche

RECOMMENDATION: There are no case-control studies allowing for an evidence-based recommendation on the optimal length of antibiotic treatment following spine infections in the presence of retained hardware. The most commonly implemented antibiotic regime is three months. However, duration of treatment was highly variable among all studies. Patients with non-instrumented surgeries did well with a shorter course of antibiotics.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Consensus

DELEGATE VOTE: Agree: 93%, Disagree: 7%, Abstain: 0% (Super Majority, Strong Consensus)

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