Spondylodiscitis complicating infective endocarditis.

Objective The primary objective was to assess the characteristics and prognosis of pyogenic spondylodiscitis (PS) in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). The secondary objectives were to assess the factors associated with occurrence of PS. Methods Prospective case–control bi-centre study of 1755 patients with definite IE with (n=150) or without (n=1605) PS. Clinical, microbiological and prognostic variables were recorded. Results Patients with PS were older (mean age 69.7±18 vs 66.2±14; p=0.004) and had more arterial hypertension (48% vs 34.5%; p Conclusions PS is a frequent complication of IE (8.5% of IE), is observed in older hypertensive patients with enterococcal or S. gallolyticus IE, and has a similar prognosis than other forms of IE. Since PS is associated with specific management, multimodality imaging including MRI, CT and PET/CT should be used for early diagnosis of this complication of endocarditis.