• Isabelle Granville Smith, Nathan P Danckert, Maxim B Freidin, Philippa Wells, Julian R Marchesi, and WilliamsFrances M KFMKhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-2998-2744Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, 3rd and 4th Floor, Block D, South Wing, St. Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Bridge Rd., London, SE1 7EH, UK..
• Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, 3rd and 4th Floor, Block D, South Wing, St. Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Bridge Rd., London, SE1 7EH, UK. isabelle.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
• Eur Spine J. 2022 Feb 1; 31 (2): 414-430.

PurposeBack pain is a major problem worldwide and is linked to intervertebral disc degeneration and Modic change. Several studies report growth of bacteria following extraction of degenerate discs at spine surgery. A pathophysiological role for infection in back pain has been proposed.MethodWe conducted a PRISMA systematic review. MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched with the terms Modic change, intervertebral dis*, bacteria, microb*, and infect*. Date limits of 2001-2021 were set. Human studies investigating the role of bacteria in disc degeneration or Modic change in vertebrae were included.ResultsThirty-six articles from 34 research investigations relating to bacteria in human degenerate discs were found. Cutibacterium acnes was identified in pathological disc material. A 'candidate bacterium' approach has been repeatedly adopted which may have biased results to find species a priori, with disc microbial evidence heavily weighted to find C. acnes.ConclusionEvidence to date implicates C. acnes identified through culture, microscopy and sequencing, with some suggestion of diverse bacterial colonisation in the disc. This review found studies which used culture methods and conventional PCR for bacterial detection. Further agnostic investigation using newer methods should be undertaken.© 2021. The Author(s).

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