Tuberculosis Of The Lumbar Spine

Description: Oguz Karaeminogullari, Ufuk Aydinli, Remzi Ozerdemoglu, Cagatay Ozturk: Tuberculosis Of The Lumbar Spine: Outcomes After Combined Treatment With Short-Course Two-Drug Therapy And Surgery. The Internet Journal of Orthopedic Surgery. 2005. Volume 2 Number 2.
The purpose was to evaluate complications and treatment results in patients with tuberculosis of the lumbar spine. Eighteen patients with active tuberculosis of the lumbar spine were treated surgically in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Uludag University School of Medicine between the years 1993 and 2000. All the patients received a short course of anti-tuberculosis combination drug therapy (isoniazid and rifampicin) for 9 months. The patients who underwent anterior radical debridement + anterior fusion and/or posterolateral debridement + posterior fusion + stabilization showed 5-8 degrees correction of local angulation after surgery; however, the number of patients was too small for statistical analysis. The mean loss of correction at final follow-up of meanly 5 years in cases of anterior or posterior surgery alone was 45-50%, whereas the corresponding finding for the combined approach was 12%. The combination of short-term two-drug chemotherapy (daily isoniazid plus rifampicin for 9 months) and surgery is effective for tuberculosis of the lumbar spine.