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SEAJMS|ISSN: 2520-7342
Case ReportPeer-reviewedOpen Access · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Back pain in an elderly patient - A case report

Zay Yar Aung1, Nyein Aye Lwin2, Diraviyam Balasubramanian3

  1. 1 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore (corresponding author)
  2. 2 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore
  3. 3 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore

Published 2023-01-06 · pp. 1-4

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Low back pain (LBP) secondary to the degenerative spinal disorder is a very common medical condition that presents in elderly people and rarely indicates a serious illness. We would like to report a case of 83 years old gentleman with a history of chronic degenerative back pain with the change in the nature of back pain, which triggered us to arrange further investigations and diagnosed Psoas abscess(PA) secondary to septic vertebral arthritis. It was treated with CT-guided drainage and sensitive antibiotics. This case report highlights the atypical presentation of diseases in elderly patients, and the common pitfalls of missing serious pathologies, which increases morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: low back pain, septic arthritis, Psoas abscess