Managing a Rare Case of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Holocord With Intravenous Antibiotics

TL;DR

This paper presents a rare case of MRSA spinal infection treated with antibiotics alone, without surgery.

Contribution

The novelty is the successful non-surgical treatment of a rare MRSA holocord subdural abscess.

Findings

The patient was treated with intravenous antibiotics and showed improvement.

Surgical intervention was avoided in this rare case of MRSA spinal infection.

The case highlights alternative management strategies for MRSA holocord abscesses.

Abstract

Holocord pathologies are diseases that include the entire spinal cord, and, in most instances, neurological cancers are the most common cause of holocord pathologies. However, in some rare instances, there are cases in which bacterial infections can extend into deeper spaces, causing spinal epidural abscesses (SEA), holocord SEA (HSEA), or even rarer spinal subdural abscesses (SSA). Current discussions surrounding the management of HSEA, SEA, or SSA primarily involve early surgical intervention and subsequent antibiotics. However, in this case, we present a patient with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) holocord subdural abscess, along with epidural and paraspinal abscesses who was treated with intravenous antibiotics and no surgical intervention. A discussion regarding this rare disease, along with the treatment of MRSA holocord, is also included.

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