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Wheeless' Textbook of Orthopaedics
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Sed Rate: Osteomyelitis of the Spine



- See:
    - Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate
    - Osteomyeltis of the Spine

- Discussion:
    - sed rate is useful in diagnosis of vertebral osteomyelitis & to monitor progression of or recovery from infection;
    - w/ diskitis, sed rate will be elevated in 85-100 % of both adults & children and is frequently the only abnormal laboratory value;
    - sed rate will be > 100 mm an hour in 38 % of pts w/ spinal osteomyelitis and will be > 50 mm an hour in 76 %;
            - pyogenic osteomyelitis is most likely infection to result in sed rate > 100 mm;
            - in contrast to only 12 % of pts w/ tuberculous spondylitis;
    - time interval for normalization of sed rate:
            - cervical spine: 3.5 months;
            - thoracic spine: 6 months;
            - lumbar spine: 7 months;



Erythrocyte sedimentation rate after lumber spine surgery.
    B Jonsson et al. Spine.   Vol 16. 1991. p 1049-1050.






Original Text by Clifford R. Wheeless, III, MD.