Spondylodiscitis with pleural empyema

Case contributed by Nick Tarasov
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Subacute severe middle back pain.

Patient Data

Age: 40
Gender: Female

There is a destruction of the Th9-Th10 vertebral bodies and intervertebral disc with irregular endplates and bone marrow edema.

There is a large encapsulated inhomogenous fluid collection with gas bubbles between right visceral and parietal pleura with secondary pulmonary infiltration.

There are no fluid collections within canalis vertebralis.

The spinal cord is intact.

Case Discussion

There was a long period of intravenous drug use. This fact shed some light on the etiology of the described above findings. Finally, sepsis complicated by spondylodiscitis and right-sided pleural empyema were diagnosed in this patient. The patient was transferred to another institution for further management. 

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