Surgery in Pott Disease: Experience of 582 Cases

Abstract

Introduction Tuberculosis of the spine is the most common and dangerous form of TB infection accounting 50 to 60% of osseous tuberculosis. Although uncommon, spinal TB still occurs even in both developed and developing countries. The diagnosis of spinal tuberculosis is difficult and it commonly presents at an advanced stage. Delay in establishing diagnosis and management cause spinal cord compression and spinal deformity. Patients mostly present with lower limb weakness, Gibbus, pain, palpable mass, and kyphotic deformity in long standing cases. Material and Methods To evaluate the efficacy and clinical outcome of surgical treatment of spinal tuberculosis treated by different approaches consisting decompression surgery, autogenous bone grafting and anti-TB chemotherapy. Before that a strong evidence-based diagnosis must be established which can be done by clinical features, MT test, and MRI of spine. Because vertebral body collapse from TB may be misdiagnosed as compression fracture. A total of 582 patients who had tuberculosis of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine with moderate-to-severe cord compression were studied. Variable degrees of neurological deficit with deformity were treated at NITOR and BSOH, Dhaka, in the period from January 2003 to July 2014. Anterolateral decompression and autogenous strut bone grafting with simultaneous fixation by screws and rods were done. Posterior decompression, posterior interbody, and posterolateral fusion by bone graft with stabilization by transpedicular screws and rods. Appropriate anti-TB drugs were given to all patients for 18 to 24 months. The postoperative follow-up period was 12 months (range, 3–21 months). Results Overall, 427 (73.4%) cases with neurological deficits recovered totally or partially. No neurological improvement had occurred in 69 (11.9%) cases with paraplegia. Overall, 56 (9.6%) cases were lost from follow-up. X-ray showing bony fusion was achieved in all cases for mean of 6 months (range, 4–8 months). There was no recurrence. Seven (5.1%) cases developed bed sore postoperatively. Excellent result was seen in 70% cases, fair in 15%, good in 10%, and poor in 5% cases. Conclusion For patients with spinal tuberculosis anterior debridement, auto graft bone fusion, anterior or posterior fixation appears to be effective in arresting disease, correcting kyphotic deformity and maintaining correction until solid spinal fusion.