Abstract
Spinal tuberculosis is one of the most common presentations of skeletal tuberculosis. It is one of the major health issues of developing countries as it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Pott's paraplegia is a dreaded complication which can result in permanent neurological deficit, unless treated by timely intervention. We evaluated the efficacy of transpedicular decompression and functional recovery in patients of spinal tuberculosis with neurological deficit.
A cohort of 23 patients (15 males and 8 female) with diagnosed spinal tuberculosis and having an average age of 37.5±8.4 years, satisfying our inclusion and exclusion criteria's and giving written informed consent were recruited in our study. All patients were managed by transpedicular decompression and fusion with posterior instrumentation. All the patients were followed up clinically, radiologically and hematologically. Patients were followed up at every six weeks for 4 months and thereafter at three monthly intervals to assess the long term outcomes and complications. Neurological evaluation was done by Frankel grading. Functional outcome was assessed by Visual Analog Score (VAS) and Owestry Disability Index score (ODI score).
All the patients were followed for a minimum of 27 months. At the final follow-up, there was a statistically significant improvement in VAS score and ODI score. Out of 23 patients, all except three patients showed neurological recovery.
We observed that transpedicular decompression is safe and effective approach for management of spinal tuberculosis as it allows adequate decompression of spinal cord while pedicular instrumentation provides stable spinal fixation and helps in early rehabilitation.
