Table 1.
Clinical details of surgical group.
Figure 1.
Illustration of surgical management for tuberculous spondylitis through transforaminal thoracic (lumbar), interbody fusion and debridement.
The pictures were reproduced with the permission of the Hunan Publishing House.
Figure 2.
A 26-year-old woman with multilevel noncontiguous cervicothoracic tuberculous spondylitis underwent posterior instrumentation and anterior debridement, graft fusion plus anterior instrumentation.
Note the marked improvement of spinal stability and solid bone fusion when comparing her preoperative and latest films. (a) Preoperative X-ray films of cervical spine show bone destruction of the C7 and T1 vertebral bodies. (b) Preoperative CT shows tuberculosis cavities and paravertebral abscess at C7-T1 and T2 and limited involvement at T6. (c) Preoperative sagittal T1W MRI (left) showing involvement of C7-T2 with collapse of the C7 and T2 vertebras and paravertebral abscess, Gd-DTPA-enhanced T1W sagittal MRI (right) showing enhancements of the inflammatory vertebral bodies and tissue. (d) Standing anteroposterior and lateral radiographs immediately after operation. (e) X-ray films and sagittal CT of cervical spine show grafts union at the final follow-up of 36 months.
Figure 3.
Images in a 25-year-old man with T4 and T9 tuberculous spondylitis.
(a) Preoperative X-ray films demonstrate collapse of the T4 and T9 vertebras. Note the abnormal vertebral bodies outlined in white dotted lines on the lateral image. (b, c) Preoperative sagittal CT and T2W MRIs demonstrate bone destruction and formation of epidural abscess at T4 and T9. (d,e) Immediate postoperative X-film and sagittal CT show that the patient received posterior transforaminal thoracic debridement, limited decompression plus instrumentation at the upper lesion, and posterior transforaminal thoracic debridement, interbody fusion and instrumentation at the caudal lesion. (f,g) X-ray and CT reveal graft union and internal fixation in good position at 2-year follow-up. Figure 3 is excluded from this article's CC-BY license. See the accompanying retraction notice for more information.
Figure 4.
Scatter plot shows the ODI scores of every patient preoperatively and at the last follow-up, with significant difference (t = 22.79, P <0.0001).
The same color of the dot represents the same patient.