RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Spinal epidural abscess treated with antibiotics alone
JF BMJ Case Reports
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP bcr2013009285
DO 10.1136/bcr-2013-009285
VO 2013
A1 Pathak, Ashish
A1 Singh, Poonam
A1 Gehlot, Prateek
A1 Dhaneria, Mamta
YR 2013
UL http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2013/bcr-2013-009285.abstract
AB Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare clinical condition among children. Most patients do not present with classical signs. A 13-year-old boy without any predisposing factors presented with paraparesis, bladder and bowel involvement. MRI spine demonstrated an SEA at the C7 and D1 levels on both sides of the midline with cord oedema at the C2–3 to C6 level with minimal marrow oedema in the C6 vertebral body. We treated the patient with antibiotics (ceftriaxone and vancomycin) alone. The patient showed excellent response with only minimal residual gait disturbance at the end of 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy. This is the first paediatric report of complete recovery of a patient at clinical stage 4 following antibiotic treatment alone from India. However, caution should be exercised to closely monitor the patient’s recovery as any progression in the neurological state warrants surgery.