Surgical results in patients with tuberculosis of the spine and severe lower-extremity motor deficits: a retrospective study of 48 patients.
OBJECTIVE
Significant numbers of patients with spinal tuberculosis (TB), especially in developing countries, still present late after disease onset with severe neurological deficits. The authors conducted a study to assess the outcome in these patients.


METHODS
Fifty-nine patients with spinal TB and severe motor deficits underwent surgery at the authors' center during the past 10 years. Data obtained in 48 patients with a minimum of 3 months of follow up (mean follow-up period 12.8 months) were analyzed. The disease in 34 patients was characterized by Frankel Grade A/B (Medical Research Council Grade 0/5) and in 14 patients by Frankel Grade C (unable to walk even with support) at admission. Thirty (88%) of the 34 patients with Frankel Grade A/B status and 13 (92.8%) of the 14 patients with Frankel Grade C status at admission experienced improvement to Frankel Grade D/E (walking with or without support) at the last follow-up examination 3 or more months after surgery. The degree of improvement exhibited by patients with a Frankel Grade A/B spinal cord injury was comparable to that shown by patients with Frankel Grade C status. Even patients with flaccid paraplegia, gross sensory deficit, prolonged weakness, spinal cord signal changes demonstrated on magnetic resonance imaging, and bladder involvement have experienced dramatic improvement in motor function since surgery. A significant number of the patients have shown remarkable improvement in other symptoms such as pain (91.6%), spasticity (88%), and bladder symptoms (88%).


CONCLUSIONS
A significant proportion of patients with spinal TB and severe motor deficits experience remarkable improvement after surgical decompression and hence should undergo surgery even though they may be suffering from paraplegia of considerable duration.
Sai Kiran
Narayanam Anantha Sai
NA
Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Vaishya
Sandeep
S
Kale
Shashank Sharad
SS
Sharma
Bhavani Shankar
BS
Mahapatra
Ashok Kumar
AK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007738:Kyphosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000473:pathology; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014399:Tuberculosis, Spinal / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D001750:Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery