Surgical treatment of thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis

Objective To study the methods and curative effect of surgical procedure for thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis.Methods 22 cases of thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis patients were treated by chemotherapy for anti-TB treatment before the operation.According to the site of thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis,the individualized surgical treatment was used by anterior/posterior focus clearance and bone graft with internal fixation.Results All cases were followed up for 18 months postoperatively.No case had a relapse,all tuberculosis symptoms disappeared and the pain alleviated.The neural function from 1 case of Frankel B grade,11cases of Frankel C grade,and 10 cases of Frankel D grade improved to 21 cases of Frankel E grade and 1 case of Frankel D grade after the operation.Conclusions Individual operation with focus clearance based on systematic anti-TB treatment can alleviated the neurological symptoms,effectively control the development of tuberculosis.