REVIEW   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 2019 April;63(2):216-23

DOI: 10.23736/S0390-5616.16.03842-X

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Is Propionibacterium acnes related to disc degeneration in adults? A systematic review

Pedro BERJANO ¹, Jorge H. VILLAFAÑE ² ✉, Dario LO RE ³, Maryem ISMAEL ¹, Marco DAMILANO ¹, Lucia BERTOZZI ⁴, Carlo L. ROMANÒ ¹, Lorenzo DRAGO ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

¹ IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy; ² IRCCS Don Gnocchi Foundation, Milan, Italy; ³ University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; ⁴ University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; ⁵ University of Milan, Milan, Italy

BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper was to systematically review the evidence linking Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) with the development of symptomatic degenerative disc disease.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Data were obtained from MEDLINE from their inception to October 2015. Two authors independently conducted the searches, extracted data and completed methodological quality assessments. Articles were included if they investigated the presence of P. acnes in symptomatic degenerative disc disease through intra-operative cultural examination. The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Overall 641 articles were retrieved with 9 cross-sectional studies being included in the review. All selected studies revealed an association between P. acnes and disc degeneration.
CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that there is a relationship between P. acnes and development of symptomatic degenerative disc disease. Despite this, we cannot support that P. acnes and development of symptomatic degenerative disc disease due to the low quality of the results according Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE).

KEY WORDS: Intervertebral disc displacement - Propionibacterium acnes - Low back pain