RT Book, Section
A1 Lindsay, Eduardo A.
A1 Copley, Lawson A. B.
A2 Shah, Samir S.
A2 Kemper, Alex R.
A2 Ratner, Adam J.
SR Print(0)
ID 1157322988
T1 Diskitis
T2 Pediatric Infectious Diseases: Essentials for Practice, 2e
YR 2019
FD 2019
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781259861536
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1157322988
RD 2024/04/25
AB The  term  diskitis  (or  discitis)  refers  to  an  infection  of  the  intervertebral  disk.  Diskitis  typically  occurs  in  children  aged  1–5  years,  but  older  children  and  adolescents  are  occasionally  affected.1,2  The  infection  spreads  to  adjacent  vertebral  endplates,  resulting  in  vertebral  osteomyelitis  in  association  with  the  diskitis  (spondylodiskitis).1,2  As  a  result  of  a  frequent  delay  in  presentation  or  diagnosis,  most  children  present  with  spondylodiskitis  rather  than  isolated  diskitis.  In  comparison  to  other  forms  of  acute  hematogenous  osteomyelitis  in  children,  spondylodiskitis  is  uncommon,  with  one  series  reporting  only  six  cases  in  a  3-year  period  among  212  children  with  osteomyelitis  involving  the  musculoskeletal  system.  Given  an  estimated  incidence  of  childhood  osteomyelitis  ranging  from  1  to  5  per  10,000  children,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  attribute  an  incidence  of  spondylodiskitis  to  be  less  than  1  in  100,000  children.23  Boys  are  more  frequently  affected  than  girls  (male  :  female  ratio  1.7  :  1).1–5