Short Post-surgical Antibiotic Therapy in Spine Infections - a Prospective, Randomized, Unblinded, Non-inferiority Trial
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: duration of standard antibiotic therapy.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Infection. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Switzerland
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Short Post-surgical Antibiotic Therapy in Spine Infections - a Pro-spective, Randomized, Unblinded, Non-inferiority Trial
Overview
We implement a prospective, randomized, unblinded, non-inferiority trial regarding the duration of systemic, targeted antibiotic therapy after the first surgical debridement for spine infection; randomizing 1:1 between 1. Six and twelve weeks of antibiotic therapy if there is an implant left in place 2. Three and six weeks of antibiotic therapy if there is no implant left
Interventions
- Drug duration of standard antibiotic therapy
antibiotic therapy for spine infections. 3 vs 6 weeks if no implant left in place. 6 vs 12 weeks if implant left in place. The antibiotic agents used are officially indicated for orthopedic infections, including spine infections and available in Switzerland since decades. Standard dosing will be applied and only modified according to the patient's co-morbidities, intolerances and weight.
Primary outcome measures
- Remission of infection at 12 months after treatment [Time frame: 12 months after treatment]
Secondary outcome measures (3)
- costs [Time frame: up to 12 months]
- duration of sick leave [Time frame: up to 12 months]
- length of hospital stay [Time frame: up to 12 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Spine surgery and intraoperative debridement with any technique
- At least 12 months of scheduled follow-up from hospitalization
- Bacterial spine infection of any nature, independently of implants or co-morbidities
Exclusion criteria
- Mycobacterial, fungal, nocardial, and Actinomyces infections in the spine
- Non-resected cancer in the infection site
- Bone marrow or recent solid organ transplant patient (Recent: <5 years)
- Any other infection in the patient requiring more than 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy
- More than three intraoperative debridements performed for spine infection
- Absence of at least one surgical intraoperative debridement of infection
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
Switzerland · 1 center
- Balgrist University Hospital — Zurich
Publications
- Zendeli F, Jedrusik A, Schaefer RO, Albrecht D, Betz M, Waibel FWA, Grober T, Kuhne N, Konneker S, Uckay I. Pathogen-Specific Risk for Iterative Surgical Debridement in Orthopedic Infections: A Prospective Multicohort Analysis. J Clin Med. 2025 Dec 10;14(24):8750. doi: 10.3390/jcm14248750. PMID 41464652
- Betz M, Uckay I, Schupbach R, Grober T, Botter SM, Burkhard J, Holy D, Achermann Y, Farshad M. Short postsurgical antibiotic therapy for spinal infections: protocol of prospective, randomized, unblinded, noninferiority trials (SASI trials). Trials. 2020 Feb 6;21(1):144. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-4047-3. PMID 32028985
Identifiers
NCT: NCT04048304 · SASI