1. Spondylodiscitis in a 54-year-old female scuba diver
- Author
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Alexandra Brelis, Neil Alan Tuttle, Rachel Brereton, and Kerrie Evans
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Spondylodiscitis ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Discitis ,Diving ,030106 microbiology ,Unusual Association of Diseases/Symptoms ,Diagnosis, Differential ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Salmonella ,Back pain ,Medicine ,Mechanical low back pain ,Humans ,Medical history ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Intervertebral Disc ,Physical Therapy Modalities ,business.industry ,Congenital spondylolisthesis ,General surgery ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Low back pain ,Scuba diving ,Anti-Bacterial Agents ,Salmonella Infections ,Female ,Presentation (obstetrics) ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Tomography, X-Ray Computed ,human activities - Abstract
A 54-year-old woman presented to a Sports Physician with a 4-year history of haemochromatosis, and she had a medical history that included a congenital spondylolisthesis resulting in a fusion of L4-S1 at age 16 years, episodic mechanical low back pain and an absence of other significant musculoskeletal symptoms. On presentation, she reported 18 months of severe low back pain that started after a scuba diving trip. After the onset of this low back pain, she developed gastrointestinal symptoms from Salmonella. The gastrointestinal symptoms improved with a course of antibiotics, but the back pain persisted in spite of analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and several attempts at different conservative management. CT imaging ordered by the Sports Physician demonstrated an erosive spondylodiscitis of L2/3 that was not present on initial investigations. However, even in the presence of significant bony changes, the patient was successfully treated with targeted conservative therapy.
- Published
- 2018