Automated percutaneous biopsy in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious discitis.

The author's experience using automated disc aspiration for the diagnosis of discitis indicates that skinny needle aspiration biopsy has a very high false-negative rate. A negative skinny-needle biopsy, therefore, must be followed by a procedure to obtain a better sample of pathologic material. Automated disc aspiration, because of its safety and ability to provide a large specimen, is the procedure of choice. Attention, however, must be paid to technical details of the procedure and the poor annular integrity of the infected disc to carry out the procedure safely.