Clinical–epidemiological profile of confirmed cases of osteoarticular tuberculosis

Abstract

Abstract. Introduction: tuberculosis (TB) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The incidence of TB has increased since the 1980s. Given the increasing prevalence of TB worldwide, osteoarticular TB (OATB) is a significant health problem. Methods: retrospective study of a case series of hospitalized patients with confirmed OATB by culture or histopathological examination who were seen at a reference orthopedic hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, from 2014 to 2019. Results: thirty patients with confirmed bone and joint TB were seen from 2014 to 2019. The main sites of OATB were the spine (83.3 %) and the appendicular skeleton (26.7 %). Indication of surgical treatment was significantly related to the need for hospitalization (p=0.009) and the increased length of hospital stay (p=0.005). Presence of sequelae at the end of treatment was correlated with the presence of motor deficit at the time of OATB diagnosis (p=0.035) as well as with initial presence of functional limitation (p=0.025) and with high value of C-reactive protein at the end of treatment (p=0.037). Conclusions: the delay in the onset of clinical and laboratory signs of cases of osteoarticular infections hinders the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease, resulting in major complications sometimes requiring surgical treatment and consequently leading to a prolonged hospital stay, evidence of high inflammatory activities, and the presence of neurological deficits.

The value of histopathology combined with CapitalBio Mycobacterium real-time polymerase chain reaction test for diagnosing spinal tuberculosis

“…TB can be classified into pulmonary TB (PTB) and extrapulmonary TB (EPTB), depending on whether the MTB infection affects the lungs (2). EPTB refers to TB of many organs, bones and joints called osteoarticular TB, the more common form of EPTB (3). Approximately 50% of osteoarticular TB is spinal TB (STB), the most common type of osteoarticular TB (4).…”

Diagnostic Challenges in Patients with Osteoarticular Tuberculosis in Mexico: Case Series

“…In 1993, the World Health Organisation recognised that tuberculosis infects one-third of the world's population, with most cases occurring in developing countries. 1 Globally, Mexico has been considered an endemic country for tuberculosis; in 2015, approximately 20,561 new cases were diagnosed, with the highest prevalence in the northern border states of the country. [2][3][4] According to the World Health Organisation, extrapulmonary infections correspond to 15% of the diagnosed world population, while osteoarticular tuberculosis represents 3%-5%.…”