Conservative treatment of tuberculosis of the thoracic and lumbar spine in adults and children.

We have treated 75 cases of spinal tuberculosis with chemotherapy as outpatients. The drugs used were INH, rifampicin and ethambutol for the 48 adults, and INH, rifampicin and PAS for the 27 children. No operations, apart from the evacuation of large abscesses, were carried out. Every patient was followed up for at least three years and the outcome was judged to be favourable in 95%. This is better than in some series in which radical surgery has been used. Although we recognize the advantages of operation in certain circumstances, we believe that our conservative regimen can be confidently recommended for use in less privileged countries, where adequate facilities for hospital treatment may not be available.