Spinal epidural abscess complicating tuberculous spondylitis.

We report the case of a patient with tuberculous L1-L2 spondylo-discitis complicated by a spinal epidural abscess which extended anteriorly to the cord up to the low cervical level. Mild signs and symptoms of spinal cord involvement improved with antituberculous therapy; however, after seven months of therapy, the MRI appearance of the abscess findings was unchanged. An attempt at surgical decompression and drainage of the abscess was unsuccessful because of the presence of dense scar tissue.