Characteristics of vertebral osteomyelitis after liver transplantation

Abstract We performed a retrospective single-centre 1:3 case–control study to investigate the characteristics of vertebral osteomyelitis (VO) occurring in orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) recipients between 2000 and 2012. Nine cases were identified in 752 OLT recipients (1.2%), with a median time from OLT to VO of 12 weeks. In comparison with 27 VO not occurring in OLT patients (controls), VO occurring in OLT recipients was characterized by decreased levels of inflammation biomarkers (average C-reactive protein 65.1 mg·L −1 vs. 167 mg·L −1 , p 0.02; average white blood cell count 4.8 × 10 9 ·L −1 vs. 12.9 × 10 9 ·L −1 , p