Diskography: infectious complications from a series of 12,634 cases.
OBJECTIVE
Diskography is commonly performed to investigate pain of suspected diskogenic origin. Although uncommon, diskitis is a feared complication of this procedure. We reviewed the incidence of diskitis and other infectious complications following diskography in a large busy outpatient practice and discuss technical aspects that may contribute to infection prevention.


METHODS
We reviewed the electronic records of all diskograms obtained at our institution during a 12.25-year period, looking for all cases of procedure-related infection. All diskograms had been obtained by skilled and experienced procedural radiologists in dedicated spine-injection suites with specialized technical staff.


RESULTS
There were 12,634 examinations performed on 10,663 patients for a total of 37,135 disk levels. Of the disk levels, 5981 were cervical; 3083, thoracic; and 28,071, lumbar. Two cases of confirmed lumbar diskitis and no cases of either cervical or thoracic diskitis were seen in our series. No other infectious complications were found. The incidence of diskitis was 0.016% per examination and 0.0054% per disk level.


CONCLUSIONS
In skilled and experienced hands using proper technique, diskography is a safe outpatient procedure with an extremely low incidence of diskitis and other procedure-related infections.
Pobiel
R S
RS
Center for Diagnostic Imaging, St. Louis Park, MN 55416, USA. rpobiel@cdirad.com
Schellhas
K P
KP
Pollei
S R
SR
Johnson
B A
BA
Golden
M J
MJ
Eklund
J A
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015299:Discitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007268:Injections, Epidural; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007472:Iohexol; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D000077555:Methylprednisolone Acetate; D008910:Minnesota; D009192:Myelography / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
D003287:Contrast Media; D000077555:Methylprednisolone Acetate; D007472:Iohexol; C064925:gadodiamide; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D008775:Methylprednisolone