Treatment of Neurological Complications in Tuberculosis of the Spine

¹ From the Orthopaedic Department, College of Medical Sciences, Banares Hindu University, Varanasi

One hundred cases of partial or complete paraplegia caused by tuberculosis of the spine and followed for six months to three years are reported. About half the number, treated simply by rest in bed and antituberculous therapy, had a good recovery from their paraplegia. Four patients so treated died within three weeks of admission because of associated tuberculous lesions. The remaining patients showed an unsatisfactory response to rest and antituberculous therapy and were treated by surgical decompression. Of these, thirty-two recovered fully, six had partial recovery sufficient to enable them to walk with support, six failed to respond appreciably and four died forty-eight hours to twelve weeks after the operation. The use of triple drug therapy has made major surgery in spinal tuberculosis extremely safe on the one hand, while on the other hand it has reduced the necessity for universal surgical extirpation of the lesion.

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