Cutibacterium Acnes in Spine Surgery: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) previously named Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) has been increasingly recognized by spine surgeons as a cause of indolent post-surgical spinal infection. Patients infected with C acnes may present with pseudarthrosis or nonspecific back pain. Currently, microbiological tissue cultures remain the gold standard in diagnosing C. acnes infection. Ongoing research into using genetic sequencing as a diagnostic method shows promising results and may be another future way of diagnosis.

Source: The Spine Journal - April 26, 2024 Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Makeen Baroudi, Mohammad Daher, Russell D Parks, Jerzy George Gregoryczyk, Mariah Balmaceno-Criss, Christopher L McDonald, Bassel G Diebo, Alan H Daniels Source Type: research