Surgical treatment of selected patients with multilevel contiguous thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis by only posterior instrumentation without any bone fusion.

The retrospective clinical study is to determine the feasibility and efficacy of surgical management of multilevel contiguous thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis (MCTLST) by only posterior instrumentation without posterior or anterior bone fusion and without anterior fixation in the study of eleven selected cases. Eleven selected cases with MCTLST were treated with combined posterior instrumentation and debridement and/or decompression without any bone fusion. The mean follow-up was 33.1 months (range 20-48 months). The kyphosis angle ranged from 9.2 to 40.4° before operation, 27.8° in average. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) score system was used to evaluate the neurological deficits and erythrocytesedimentationrate (ESR) used to judge the activity of tuberculosis, which were collected at certain time. Spinal tuberculosis (STB) was completely cured in all eleven patients. There was no recurrent tuberculosis infection. The postoperative kyphosis angle was 7.1° to 12.5°, 9.6° in average and there was no significant loss of the correction at the final follow-up. Solid fusion was achieved in all cases. Neurological condition in all patients was improved after surgery. In conclusions, combined posterior instrumentation and debridement and/or decompression without any bone fusion can be a feasible and effective method in treatment of patients with MCTLST. However, the strict selection of patients was the critical of the surgery success.