Vertebral osteomyelitis caused by Nocardia asteroides: report and review of the literature. |
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| Authors: | J M Laurin C S Resnik D Wheeler B W Needleman |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. |
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| Abstract: | A 65-year-old man with 9 months of radicular lower back pain was admitted for treatment of presumed malignancy of the lumbar spine. Lumbar radiographs showed destruction of the L4-L5 endplates and obliteration of the disc space, which was more compatible with an infectious process. After 2 different closed biopsy specimens failed to reveal an etiologic organism, N. asteroides was cultured from an open biopsy sample of the affected vertebrae. This and 8 other cases in the English literature of vertebral osteomyelitis caused by N. asteroides are reviewed. |
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