Purpose

Vertebral osteomyelitis (VO) has a high mortality and leads to chronic pain and functional disability. Surgical treatment is often necessary. To date, little is known about the consequences of surgery on patient outcome. The aim of this study was to determine the quality of life (QoL) and mortality rates of surgically treated VO patients for a period of 2 years.

Methods

Patients with VO undergoing surgical treatment in a tertiary referral hospital from 2008 to 2015 were included prospectively. Data were collected before (T0) as well as 1 year (T1) and 2 years (T2) post-surgery. Within the European Spine Tango registry, prospective patient and QoL data were collected using validated outcome scores: Oswestry Disability Index, Short Form 36/EuroQol, Visual Analog Scale, and Core Outcome Measures Index.

Results

From 195 patients surgically treated for VO, QoL data were available from 136 patients at T0, 100 patients at T1, and 82 patients at T2, respectively. The 1- and 2-year mortality rates were 20% and 23%. Mainly all QoL outcome scores showed significant improvement at T1 and did not change significantly from T1 to T2.

Conclusion

Surgical treatment of VO patients leads to significantly improved QoL. Nevertheless, QoL levels were below those of the general population. Our results underscore that spine disability questionnaires measuring QoL are mandatory to demonstrate comprehensively the severity of this entity. Our study confirms a high mortality and points out the role of VO as a potentially life-threatening condition.

中文翻译：

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椎骨骨髓炎 (VO) 手术治疗后的生活质量和死亡率：一项前瞻性研究。

目的

椎骨骨髓炎 (VO) 的死亡率很高，会导致慢性疼痛和功能障碍。通常需要手术治疗。迄今为止，人们对手术对患者预后的影响知之甚少。本研究的目的是确定手术治疗的 VO 患者在 2 年内的生活质量 (QoL) 和死亡率。

方法

前瞻性纳入了 2008 年至 2015 年在三级转诊医院接受手术治疗的 VO 患者。在手术前（T 0）以及手术后1年（T 1）和2年（T 2）收集数据。在欧洲脊柱探戈登记处，使用经过验证的结果评分收集了前瞻性患者和 QoL 数据：Oswestry 残疾指数、Short Form 36/EuroQol、视觉模拟量表和核心结果测量指数。

结果

从 195 名接受 VO 手术治疗的患者中，分别有 136 名T 0 患者、100 名T 1 患者和 82 名T 2患者的QoL 数据可用。1年和2年死亡率分别为20%和23%。主要是所有 QoL 结果评分在T 1 时显示出显着改善，并且从T 1 到T 2没有显着变化。

结论

VO 患者的手术治疗可显着改善 QoL。然而，生活质量水平低于一般人群。我们的结果强调，测量 QoL 的脊柱残疾问卷对于全面证明该实体的严重程度是强制性的。我们的研究证实了高死亡率，并指出 VO 作为一种可能危及生命的疾病的作用。