The optimal treatment of uncomplicated native vertebral osteomyelitis (NVO) is unknown. While some authors recommend surgical treatment (consisting of spinal debridement, decompression and instrumentation using hardware implantation of hardware), others recommend conservative treatment (with antimicrobial therapy alone). In the proposed randomized controlled multicentric trial, we plan to compare the outcome of conservative vs, surgical treatment of NVO regarding (i) infection outcome (i.e. infection-free proportion of subjects), (ii) functional outcome (pain intensity, spine scores, general mobility, quality of life evaluation), and (iii) socioeconomic impact (direct and indirect costs due to NVO). A total of 350 subjects will be screened, 300 subjects will be randomized 1:1 into 2 arms: experimental (surgical treatment) and control (conservative treatment). Subjects in both groups will receive pathogen-directed antimicrobial therapy for 6 weeks. Excluded will be patients with acute neurologic impairment, extensive bone destruction, epidural/intraspinal abscess and with spinal hardware. The clinical impact of this study is enormous since it will generate evidence for rational treatment guidelines. We hypothesize that the conservative treatment of uncomplicated NVO is non-inferior to surgical therapy regarding infection outcome. If the conservative treatment of NVO demonstrate non-inferiority, patients may benefit from avoiding unnecessary surgical intervention.
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Proportion of infection-free subjects
Timeframe: 12 months after treatment initiation