Postoperative discitis outcome

9 patients developed bony bridging in 12–18 mos; 10 developed bony fusion in 18–24 mos ¹⁾.

All patients eventually become pain-free (or significantly improve). This is not the case in all series, where some report 60% were pain-free at F/U, others found slight back pain in most patients, and yet others report severe chronic LBP in 75%.49 67–88% returned to their previous work, and 12–25% received disability pension; these numbers are similar to the outcome from disc surgery in general.

No difference in outcome was found for the various activity restrictions specified, except for earlier pain relief with first two types listed above.