The efncieney and safety of instrumentation to treat spinal tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the efficiency and safety of instrumentation to treat spinal tu-berculosis. Methods Fifty-one patients of spinal tuberculosis were treated with one-stage or two-stage de-hridement, strut autografting, and anterior or posterior instrumentation with screw rod system, combined with one-year triple agents postoperative antituberculous chemotherapy from April 1985 to May 2005. There were 6 in cervical spine, 19 in thoracic spine, 16 in thoracolumbar spine and 10 in lumbosacral spine. The level of the lesion were 6 cases for single vertebrae, 30 for two vertebrae, 11 for three vertebrae and 4 for more than four vertebrae. All patients were given triple agents antituberculous chemotherapy at least two weeks before operation. The operative procedures included cervical anterior approaches in 6 cases for debridement, fusion and plate-screw fixation, upper lateral transthoracic procedures for debridement, fusion and screw rod fixation in 11, posterior debridement, fusion and transpedicular screw system fixation in 6, two-stage anterior and posterior operation in 18 cases. The instrumentation included 6 Luque, 3 Z-plate, 8 TSRH, 5 Ventrofix, 4 Kenada, 5 Moss-Miami, 6 Isola, 3 CDH, 2 Caspaz, 2 C-D, 1 Zielke, 1 Dick, 1 Oriell, 1 Ozion, 1 Zephir, 1 Tenor, and 1 USS. Results All patients were followed up prospectively for 3.2 to 23.5 years postoperatively. The back pain was obviously relieved postoperatively. Patients with neurological function deficiency im-proved. The solid fusion was achieved in all patients, except one patient due to tuberculosis recurrence. The major complication included one sinus formation and one case with temporary deterioration of neurological function, recovered with appropriate treatment. Average preoperative kyphosis angle was 34.17°, and that was 10.45° immediately after surgery. There was a 3.2° loss of kyphosis correction during follow-up period. Con-clusion Spinal tuberculosis treated with instrumentation is effective and safe. Key words: Spine; Tuberculosis; Internal fixators; Surgical procedures, operative