1.Efficacy of posterior debridement,bone graft fusion and internal fixation in the treatment of noncon-tiguous spinal tuberculosis
Muhetaer MAIWEILANI ; Shutao GAO ; Yukun HU
Chinese Journal of Spine and Spinal Cord 2024;34(2):161-169
Objectives:To investigate the clinical characteristics of noncontiguous spinal tuberculosis and the efficacy and prognosis of one-stage posterior debridement,bone graft fusion and internal fixation for the treat-ment of noncontiguous spinal tuberculosis.Methods:The clinical data of 31 patients with noncontiguous spinal tuberculosis treated in our hospital between July 2016 and May 2022 were retrospectively analyzed,in-cluding 18 males and 13 females,aged 49.5±27.5 years.There were 24 cases with 2 lesions and 7 cases with 3 lesions.Responsible vertebrae were clarified,and surgical lesions,fusion segments,and internal fixation methods were determined for each patient,so as to develop individualized surgical plans.The patients were followed up for 29.7±14.7 months(15-85 months).The operative time,intraoperative blood loss,and intraoper-ative and postoperative complications were recorded.Erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR)and C-reactive pro-tein(CRP)were examined and recorded before operation,at 1 month,3 months,and 1 year after operation,and at the last follow-up.Visual analogue scale(VAS)was used to evaluate the pain before operation,at 1 week,1 month,3 months,1 year after operation and at the last follow-up.Cobb angle was measured before operation,at 1 week after operation,and at the last follow-up.The American Spinal Injury Association(ASIA)classification was recorded before operation and at the last follow-up.Bridwell bone healing criteria were used to evaluate postoperative tuberculosis activity,symptom improvement,deformity correction,and bone healing at the last follow-up.Results:Among the 31 patients,20(65.4%)had only one lesion(65.4%),23(74.2%)were admitted to the hospital with pain as the main complaint,15(48.4%)had only pain symptoms during the course of the disease,11 cases(35.5%)had only one lesion with pain symptoms,and 18(58.1%)patients had at least one lesion missed at the initial diagnosis.All the patients were successfully operated.The operative time was 280.0±52.2min(165-330min),and blood loss was 567.7±332.0mL(150-1000mL).There were 4 cases of cerebrospinal fluid leakage and 3 cases of incision infection after operation,which were cured after symptomatic treatment.All foci of tuberculosis were cured without recurrence or retransmission.At pre-operation,1 month,3 months,1 year after surgery,and at the last follow-up,ESR was 41.5±26.3mm/h,16.3±13.4mm/h,12.5±6.3mm/h,11.4±5.2mm/h,and 9.2±3.1mm/h,and the levels of CRP were 32.8±23.2mg/L,7.3±5.6mg/L,6.2±4.1mg/L,5.1±3.7mg/L,2.8±2.3mg/L,which were both significantly lower after operation than those before operation(P<0.05).The VAS score was 6.4±2.4,2.4±1.7,2.3±1.3,1.6±0.9,0.9±0.7,and 0.4±0.3 before operation,at 1 week,1 month,3 months,1 year after operation,and at the last follow-up,which was significantly improved after operation when compared with that before operation(P<0.05).The Cobb angle was 25.7°±4.9° before operation,15.4°±2.1° at 1 week after operation,and 17.1°±2.3° at the last follow-up,and there were significant differences between the postoperative angles and preoperative angles(P<0.05).Among the 10 patients with preoperative neurological impairment,1 patient with preoperative grade A recovered to grade C at the last follow-up.Among the 4 patients with preoperative grade B,1 patient recovered to grade C and 3 to grade D.Of the 5 patients with preoperative grade C,2 recovered to grade D and 3 to grade E.All 42 bone graft lesions achieved bone fusion at 6-12 months after operation.At the last follow-up,34 lesions healed in Bridwell grade Ⅰ and 8 in Bridwell grade Ⅱ.Conclusions:For patients with noncontiguous spinal tuberculosis,one-stage posterior debridement,bone graft fusion and internal fixation is safe and efficient after determining responsible vertebrae and lesion features,which can obtain satisfactory results.