Much has evolved since Percivall Pott's first description of vertebral tuberculosis. However, there still is much controversy regarding the best approaches to prevent deformities. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the clinical and X-ray characteristics of patients with vertebral tuberculosis and to compare the conservative treatment alone to the surgical one associated with antibiotic therapy, particularly regarding residual deformity and neurological deficit. A retrospective evaluation of baseline and end-point X-ray studies and of the medical files was performed. The neurological status was evaluated by using the ASIA scale and the deformities were measured using the Cobb method. Thirty-eight patients were evaluated: 11 were surgically treated and 27 received only antibiotics. Fifteen patients presenting neurological deficit showed improvement regardless of the treatment method employed. The mean focal and regional thoracic kyphosis at baseline was 48.8º and 47.86º, respectively. An increased incidence of thoracic deformity was found, also being the most affected segment, from 6.3º focal and 9.8º regional after 5 years. The type of treatment has not interfered on kyphosis progression. Patients below the age of 15 and with kyphosis above 30º had worse prognosis regarding deformity progression.
Tuberculosis; Spine; Kyphosis
