Two cases of acute lumbar pain in infectious disease of joints or spine

Abstract

Acute lumbar pain in should be carefully examined detect early stage infectious disease of the joints or spine. Here we report two cases. The first patient, a 57-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus had pyogenic sacroilliac arthritis, and she initially complained of focal lumbar pain, that was aggravated by percussion in a fit of coughing. The second patient who also complained of focal lumbar pain aggravated by percussion, was a 46-year-old man who had pyogenic discitis, with severe pulmonary and urinary infections.
The prevailing clinical symptom of infectious disease included focal pain, fever and leukocytosis. In particular, focal pain that was aggravated by percussion was the most important symptom to suspect infection of the spine. In order to observe these clinical signs, we must carefully perform hematological and radiological examinations as soon as possible. While bone scintigraphy was a possible examination for pyogenic sacroilliac arthritis, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was also an available examination for pyogenic discitis in the two patients reported.