Table 3.
Diagnostic sensitivity of single procedures in SD and ISEE patient treated with EAT or TAT.
| Procedure of Pathogen Detection | TAT | EAT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD | ISEE | p-Value * | SD | ISEE | p-Value * | |
| Exclusively blood culture | 8/53 (15.1) | 2/15 (13.3) | 1.0 | 14/89 (18.2%) | 1/51 (2.1%) | 0.010 |
| Exclusively intraoperative specimens | 15/53 (28.3) | 7/15 (46.7%) | 0.218 | 19/89 (24.7%) | 24/51 (51.1%) | 0.002 |
| Exclusively CT-guided Biopsy | 0/53 (0.0%) | 0/15 (0.0%) | --- | 2/89 (2.6%) | 0/51 (0.0%) | 0.534 |
| More than one procedure | 30/53 (56.6%) | 6/15 (40.0%) | 0.380 | 42/89 (54.5%) | 22/51 (46.8%) | 0.725 |
| Unknown pathogens | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 | ||
ISEE: isolated spinal epidural empyema, SD: spondylodiscitis, CT: computer tomography, EAT: empiric antibiotic therapy, TAT: targeted antibiotic therapy, *: Fisher exact test. Bold values are significant results (p < 0.05) as indicated in the methods.