OSTEOMYELITIS OF THE CERVICAL VERTEBRAS AS A COMPLICATION OF URINARY TRACT DISEASE

Abstract

Osteomyelitis of the vertebras as a complication of urinary tract infection is a rare disease. Hurwitz and Albertson,¹after reviewing the literature, reported nine cases in 1950, including one of their own. Three cases not included in the previous category were reported by Kusunoki²in which the humerus, femur, and tibia were involved. The spread of infection by the venous pathway from the prostatic and periprostatic veins to the vertebral veins is an excellent indirect means of transmitting infection to the vertebral bodies. We wish to add a case to this series in which cervical osteomyelitis was the precursor of extensive pathologic processes. In so doing, results with the use of a new antibiotic, neomycin,³will be described. REPORT OF A CASE A 66-year-old white physician was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 10, 1949, with a 10-year history of urinary calculosis and symptomatology including repeated attacks