RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Propionibacterium acnes Infection in Disc Material and Different Antibiotic Susceptibility in Patients With Lumbar Disc Herniation JF International Journal of Spine Surgery JO Int J Spine Surg FD International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery SP 6019 DO 10.14444/6019 A1 Salehpour, Firooz A1 Aghazadeh, Javad A1 Mirzaei, Farhad A1 Ziaeii, Ehsan A1 Alavi, Seyed Ahmad Naseri YR 2019 UL https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/early/2019/04/03/6019.abstract AB Background Low back pain is an important, worldwide clinical problem from which human populations are suffering. It has been suggested that Propionibacterium acnes is associated with low back pain. The objective of this clinical study is to evaluate the P. acnes infection in the disc material and antibiotic susceptibility in patients with disc herniation.Methods A total of 120 patients with disc herniation surgery were enrolled in the study. The samples were excited during discectomy and then cultured in both anaerobic and aerobic incubations. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was performed for determination of antibiotic susceptibility.Results Of 120 samples, 60 (50%) samples were positive for microorganisms. Disc herniation was at the level of L4-L5 in 63 cases and L5-S1 in 57 cases.Conclusions According to the results and presence of P. acnes in more than 35% of the cultured samples, the presence of P. acnes in lumbar disc herniation is a suspected element leading to this condition. After analysis of the antibiotics, the lowest MIC value was identified for amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, rifampicin, tetracycline, vancomycin; the moderate MIC value was for fusidic acid; and the highest MIC value was for gentamicin and trimethoprim.