DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjmcr.2024.v12i09.008

Pages: 1540-1544

Post-operative infections complicate 1 to 10% of spine surgeries and frequently cause disabling chronic painful after-effects. This is the leading cause of re-operation in the first month post-operatively. This is a 47-year-old female patient who underwent spinal surgery and then became superinfected, presenting for back pain in a febrile and general conservation context in whom the clinical examination noted cauda equina syndrome. The paraclinical assessment allowed us to isolate the staphylococcus aureus and an imaging study concluded to post-operative spondylodiscitis. Faced with this picture, an emergency surgical indication was made and the postoperative outcomes were satisfactory. In short, cauda equina syndrome remains a surgical emergency.