Tuberculosis of the spine and spinal cord

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrad.2005.04.018Get rights and content

Abstract

Tuberculosis remains an important problem in underdeveloped countries, especially in individuals under the age of 20 years. In developed countries, there was an increase of the disease due to several factors, especially the appearance of A.I.D.S. The arterial haematogenous seeding is the most important way to the propagation of the disease to the rachis. The bacillus mycobacterium tuberculosis is characterized by a slow growth, propention for an oxygen rich environment and the absence of proteolytic enzymes. These characteristics are responsible for the imaging particularities of tuberculous osteomyelitis. The diagnosis can be confirmed by the bacteriologic and histological studies from samples removed by punction biopsy.

Section snippets

Tuberculosis of the spine

Tuberculosis is an important problem in numerous underdeveloped regions, especially in individuals under the age of 20 years old.

In developed countries, tuberculosis has been reduced in the past 30 years, as a consequence of a precocious diagnosis, and mostly with anti-bacillary therapeutics.

However, in the 80's, there was an aggravation of the disease, due to the increase of the immigrant and prisoner's population and mostly the appearance of A.I.D.S.

The osteoarticular localizations represent

Tuberculosis of the spine particularities

Tuberculous spondylitis has some differential diagnostic problems with other spondylitis, although a certain number of particularities point to the specific etiology. The preferential localization is in the dorsal inferior segment (Fig. 2). The nature of the mycobacterium tuberculosis characterized by slow growth, propensity for an oxygen rich environment and the absence of proteolytic enzymes, determinate a particular development of the infectious process. The tuberculous osteomyelitis has in

Spinal cord tuberculosis

The tuberculous myelitis is more frequent as secondary lesion to osteomyelitis. In most cases, it appears in individuals under the age of 30 years, as opposite of arachnoiditis, which is more frequent in older people. Clinically and according to localization, symptoms emerge, from radicular pain to plegia. Tuberculosis may be located anywhere in the dura. It may be difficult to determinate if an intradural tuberculoma is intra or extramedullar (Fig. 19).

MR with gadolinium administration is the

References (0)

Cited by (0)

View full text