How long would you hold antibiotics before performing a vertebral biopsy to optimize culture yield in a patient who has been on empiric antibiotics for a week for suspected vertebral osteomyelitis?  

I think the heart of this question is to better understand why the patient was started on empiric antibiotics. The 2015 IDSA guidelines for vertebral osteo (https://www.idsociety.org/practice-guideline/vertebral-osteomyelitis/) endorse holding abx in clinically stable patients to optimize cultures--...