Timing of surgery after thoracic spinal cord injury and its effect on curative effect in patients with thoracic spinal tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective To discuss the timing of surgery after thoracic spinal cord injury and its effect on curative effect in patients with thoracic spinal tuberculosis. Methods One hundred and fifty thoracic spinal tuberculosis patients with thoracic spinal cord injury were selected from February 2013 to July 2016 in Zhangye People’s Hospital Affiliated to Hexi University, according to the timing of surgery after spinal cord injury were divided into immediategroup (immediate), early group (anti tuberculosis treatment 2-4 weeks), conventional group (anti tuberculosis treatment >4 weeks), 50 cases in each group. The operation time, intraoperative bleeding volume, fusion time, complication rate, recurrence rate, erythrocyte sedimentationrate (ESR), pain and nerve function were compared among the 3 groups. Results In operative time, bleeding volume, bone fusion time, instant group, early group was significantly lower than the normal group, the complication rate in early group was significantly lower than the normal group, the difference was statistically significant (P 0.05) in the United States; Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) score. The three group were significantly higher than the preoperative, immediate group, early group was significantly higher than that of the conventional group, the difference was statistically significant (P 0.05); the ESR, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores after operation in the three groups were significantly lower than those before operation, the ESR, VAS scores and recurrence rate after operation in immediate group were significantly higher than that in the early group and the normal group, the difference was statistically significant (P 0.05). Conclusion Thoracic spinal cord injury in patients with tuberculosis after the timing of surgery should be based on standard anti tuberculosis treatment andthe 2-4 weeks after injury and it can effectively reduce the surgical trauma, complications and conducive to the nerve functional recovery. Key words: Thoracic spinal tuberculosis; Thoracic spinal cord injury; Erythrocyte sedimentation rate