Spinal tuberculosis: Our experience and a review of imaging methods

Pott's Spine Unveiled: A Comprehensive Case Report and Surgical Intervention

This case report describes the presentation, diagnosis, and surgical management of a 61-year-old female admitted to a tertiary care hospital with a two-month history of neck pain and weakness in all four limbs. Despite the absence of a clear history of trauma, a detailed examination revealed restricted neck flexion, paraspinal muscle spasm, and neurological deficits. Contrast-enhanced MRI indicated vertebral osteomyelitis and discitis at the C5-C6 level, with a suspected infective etiology, possibly tuberculosis spondylitis. The patient underwent anterior cervical decompression, corpectomy of C5-C6, and fusion of C4-C7. Postoperative management included intravenous antibiotics, physiotherapy, and anti-tubercular treatment. The patient exhibited satisfactory recovery, and this case underscores the importance of comprehensive evaluation and prompt intervention in managing complex spinal infections.

Spine tuberculosis with an intercurrent active pulmonary location in a high incidence country: A rare case report

Spinal tuberculosis usually presents as destroyed contiguous vertebral bodies associated with intervertebral discs and paravertebral or psoas abscesses. Atypical forms are uncommonly reported. Vertebral involvement without disk destruction is a rare form that improves satisfactorily after appropriate medical management. We report the case of a 36-year-old male who had spine tuberculosis without disk involvement, associated with intercurrent active pulmonary location with good clinical improvement after treatment and follow-up imaging showing spectacular regression of bone lesions. By reporting this case, we also review the literature on this rare form of tuberculosis.

Imaging of musculoskeletal tuberculosis

Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) of the musculoskeletal system usually manifests with non-specific clinical features, mimicking a variety of diseases. Diagnosis and treatment of spinal and extra-spinal musculoskeletal TB are often challenging. Imaging has an important role in detecting this disease, aiding diagnosis, identifying complications, and monitoring disease progression. Radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging are the key imaging modalities utilized. Radiologists should aim to be familiar with the spectrum of imaging features of TB affecting spinal and extra-spinal locations in the musculoskeletal system.

Imaging recommendations and algorithms for pediatric tuberculosis: part 2-extrathoracic tuberculosis

Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment in recent years, tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health concern. Children are amongst the most vulnerable groups affected by this disease. Although TB primarily involves the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes, it can affect virtually any organ system of the body. Along with clinical history combined with physical examination and laboratory tests, various medical imaging tools help establish the diagnosis. Medical imaging tests are also helpful for follow-up during therapy, to assess complications and exclude other underlying pathologies. This article aims to discuss the utility, strengths and limitations of medical imaging tools in the evaluation of suspected extrathoracic TB in the pediatric population. Imaging recommendations for the diagnosis will be presented along with practical and evidence-based imaging algorithms to serve as a guide for both radiologists and clinicians.

Extended drug-resistant Salmonella typhi osteomyelitis: a case report and literature review

Background

Salmonella typhi infection commonly results in gastroenteritis, bacteremia with or without secondary seeding, or asymptomatic carrier stage. Few cases of Salmonella typhi bacteremia later result in seeding and ultimately lead to further complications including osteomyelitis and rarely vertebral osteomyelitis.

Case presentation

We are discussing a case of a 38-year-old Asian male patient, with no known comorbids. He presented with fever and backache for 4 weeks. Based on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of the spine and positive blood cultures, a diagnosis of XDR Salmonella typhi (S. typhi) osteomyelitis (OM) was made. Patient was started on intravenous therapy as per culture report which was later modified according to treatment response.

Conclusion

S. typhi has a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations including osteomyelitis however to the best of our knowledge this is the first reported case of XDR S. typhi vertebral osteomyelitis. We describe the clinical course of the patient and review the literature regarding the treatment of S.typhi vertebral osteomyelitis with a special focus on XDR S. typhi. Treatment course and complications in view of this new resistant strain have to be reported in order to devise general guidelines for the management in such particular cases.

Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Spinal Tuberculosis From CT Images Based on Deep Learning With Multimodal Feature Fusion

Background

Spinal tuberculosis (TB) has the highest incidence in remote plateau areas, particularly in Tibet, China, due to inadequate local healthcare services, which not only facilitates the transmission of TB bacteria but also increases the burden on grassroots hospitals. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) is urgently required to improve the efficiency of clinical diagnosis of TB using computed tomography (CT) images. However, classical machine learning with handcrafted features generally has low accuracy, and deep learning with self-extracting features relies heavily on the size of medical datasets. Therefore, CAD, which effectively fuses multimodal features, is an alternative solution for spinal TB detection.

Methods

A new deep learning method is proposed that fuses four elaborate image features, specifically three handcrafted features and one convolutional neural network (CNN) feature. Spinal TB CT images were collected from 197 patients with spinal TB, from 2013 to 2020, in the People’s Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region, China; 3,000 effective lumbar spine CT images were randomly screened to our dataset, from which two sets of 1,500 images each were classified as tuberculosis (positive) and health (negative). In addition, virtual data augmentation is proposed to enlarge the handcrafted features of the TB dataset. Essentially, the proposed multimodal feature fusion CNN consists of four main sections: matching network, backbone (ResNet-18/50, VGG-11/16, DenseNet-121/161), fallen network, and gated information fusion network. Detailed performance analyses were conducted based on the multimodal features, proposed augmentation, model stability, and model-focused heatmap.

Results

Experimental results showed that the proposed model with VGG-11 and virtual data augmentation exhibited optimal performance in terms of accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, and area under curve. In addition, an inverse relationship existed between the model size and test accuracy. The model-focused heatmap also shifted from the irrelevant region to the bone destruction caused by TB.

Conclusion

The proposed augmentation effectively simulated the real data distribution in the feature space. More importantly, all the evaluation metrics and analyses demonstrated that the proposed deep learning model exhibits efficient feature fusion for multimodal features. Our study provides a profound insight into the preliminary auxiliary diagnosis of spinal TB from CT images applicable to the Tibetan area.

Surgical Treatment for Advanced Thoracic Spinal Tuberculosis in Infants: Case Series and Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Spinal tuberculosis (TB), or Pott's disease, is the most common form of osteoarticular TB. Early diagnosis and anti-TB drug therapy are the mainstays of treatment. However, in advanced stages, surgery is essential to correct spinal deformities and avoid neurological damage. Very few cases in young children requiring surgical treatment have been described. We present 2 cases of surgically treated thoracic spinal TB in patients under 2 years of age and review the literature on this entity in young children.

CASE DESCRIPTION

Two male toddlers, aged 21 (patient 1) and 23 (patient 2) months, were admitted due to insidious systemic deterioration associated with neck stiffness and nonspecific abdominal pain in patient 1 and limping in patient 2. The findings of laboratory tests were unremarkable despite an increase in acute-phase reactants. After an extensive workup, results of a magnetic resonance imaging were consistent with spinal TB in both patients. Patient 1 underwent costotransversectomy of the left third and fourth ribs, debridement, T3-T4 corpectomy, and T2-T6 posterior fusion, to which an anterior rib autograft was added. Patient 2 had a right-sided thoracotomy performed at the apex in addition to debridement and T8 corpectomy; the resected rib was used as anterior structural autograft. Several samples of purulent, caseous material were sent for study. On follow-up, progression of proximal junctional kyphosis was evidenced in patient 1, requiring revision surgery to restore sagittal alignment; the patient was asymptomatic at 2-year follow-up. Patient 2 evolved satisfactorily without neurological sequelae and was asymptomatic at 4-year follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Spinal TB in young children requires appropriate surgical treatment when presenting at advanced stages or having severe deformity or neurological compromise. Despite the challenges associated with young age and ongoing growth, surgery can be performed safely provided proper surgical expertise. After extensive debridement and decompression, priority should be given to restoring sagittal alignment and balance with stable and durable spinal reconstructions.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3

[Application progress of implantation in surgical treatment of cervical tuberculosis]

OBJECTIVE

To review the characteristics and applications of different implantation in cervical tuberculosis surgery and the research progress of the new implantation.

METHODS

By consulting relevant domestic and foreign research literature on cervical tuberculosis, the classification, advantages, disadvantages, and prospects of implantations were analyzed and summarized.

RESULTS

The incidence of cervical tuberculosis has increased recently and has a high disability rate. Currently, the implantation in the surgical treatment of cervical tuberculosis are mainly divided into bone materials, metal materials, and bioactive materials; the above materials have their own advantages and disadvantages, for example, the amount of autologous bone is limited, the complications of allogeneic bone are common, and the bone fusion effect of metal materials is poor. With the development of science and technology, the implantation are also more diverse.

CONCLUSION

The choice of the implantation affects the bone fusion directly, furthermore, it affects the effectiveness of cervical tuberculosis, the development of new implantation provides a variety of options for the treatment of cervical tuberculosis.

The Angiopoietin-like protein 4: a promising biomarker to distinguish brucella spondylitis from tuberculous spondylitis

Objective

The Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL-4) has been proved to be a protein associated with multiple inflammatory responses. Nevertheless, whether it contributes to distinguishing brucella spondylitis (BS) from tuberculous spondylitis (TS) remains an open question. Our study aim is to explore the capability of the ANGPTL-4 to differentiating BS from TS.

Materials and method

In our study, 53 patients were screened out according to the criteria precisely in Xinjiang Medical University Affiliated of the First Hospital from 1 January, 2016, to 31 December, 2018. Their clinical data were retrospectively reviewed. All of them underwent pathological biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging examination. All the frozen tissue sections were stained for testing ANGPTL-4.

Result

Among the 53 patients, BS had 26 patients, and TS had 27 patients. There was no significant difference between the baseline (P = 0.682) between the two groups. The positive rate of ANGPTL-4 in TS patients (24/27, 88.89%) was higher than that in BS patients (17/26, 65.83%) (P < 0.05). The incidence of microangiopathy and fibrous connective tissue hyperplasia in patients with BS was distinctly higher than those in the TS (P = 0.001, P = 0.008, respectively). Patients of TS frequently presented more granuloma, caseous necrosis, epithelial-like reaction, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein (CRP) than those of BS.

Conclusion

Our study provided novel insights into distinguishing BS from TS using the ANGPTL-4 combining with histopathology, which may become new supporting evidence.

Key Points • Brucella spondylitis and tuberculous spondylitis are a significant public health concern and even have prolonged damage, contributing to severe health and economic outcomes in Xinjiang of China. • The granuloma, caseous necrosis, epithelioid reaction, microangiosis, and fibrous connective tissue of pathological tissue might play a critical significance for distinguishing brucella spondylitis from tuberculous spondylitis patients. • ANGPLT-4 may become new supporting evidence identify brucella spondylitis and tuberculous spondylitis which is implicated in inflammation angiogenesis-related disorders.

Comparison of the Clinical Efficacy of 3 Surgical Methods for Treating Spinal Tuberculosis in Children

Background

This study aimed to investigate the safety and clinical efficacy of 3 different surgical methods for treating spinal tuberculosis (ST) in children.

Material/Methods

We reviewed the cases of 62 children with ST who were treated in our hospital from January 2010 to December 2014. In this study, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) level, Frankel classification of neurological function, pain visual analog scale (VAS) score, and kyphosis Cobb (k-Cobb) angle were dynamically monitored to evaluate the efficacy of different surgical methods. Complications in the patients were evaluated at 3 time points: before surgery (T1), after surgery (T2), and during final follow-up (T3). The average follow-up was 27.4 months. Twenty-two patients underwent simple anterior debridement alone or combined with internal fixation (Method A), 13 patients underwent posterior debridement alone (Method B), and 27 patients received anteroposterior debridement and bone graft fusion together with internal fixation (Method C).

Results

In all 3 groups after surgery, ESR, CRP levels, VAS scores, and k-Cobb angles significantly decreased. However, compared with patients who received Methods B and C, patients who received Method A had a significant rebound in k-Cobb angle and a higher incidence of complications at the T3 time point. The overall reoperation rate during follow-up was 37.10%. Fourteen patients (22.58%) had kyphosis, 2 patients (3.23%) had tuberculosis recurrence combined with kyphosis, and other complications were reported in 5 patients (8.06%).

Conclusions

Considering the incidence of complications and level of postoperative biochemical indicators, we concluded that caution should be exercised in using an anterior approach to treat pediatric ST.

Cervical spine tuberculosis

Tuberculosis of the cervical spine differs from other vertebral localizations by its extreme rarity, the clinical images are very diversified, the radiological measurements allow a good diagnostic orientation and specifically the MRI which allows a multi-planar study of the various lesions. Only bacteriological evidence can confirm the diagnosis. The treatment is based on a 12-month antituberculosis multidrug therapy and much debate upon the surgical indication. In our case, the patient presented with bilateral cervicobrachialgia with pain on examination at the mobilization of the cervical spine. A standard X-ray, a cervical CT scan, and a cervical MRI were performed, showing a C4 vertebral body compression of a probably infectious origin. The biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of a Cervical Pott's Disease that had been treated with anterior arthrodesis and TB treatment with rehabilitation, the patients' neurological symptoms improved, and he was doing well.

Joint EANM/ESNR and ESCMID-endorsed consensus document for the diagnosis of spine infection (spondylodiscitis) in adults

PURPOSE

Diagnosis of spondylodiscitis (SD) may be challenging due to the nonspecific clinical and laboratory findings and the need to perform various diagnostic tests including serologic, imaging, and microbiological examinations. Homogeneous management of SD diagnosis through international, multidisciplinary guidance would improve the sensitivity of diagnosis and lead to better patient outcome.

METHODS

An expert specialist team, comprising nuclear medicine physicians appointed by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), neuroradiologists appointed by the European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR), and infectious diseases specialists appointed by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), reviewed the literature from January 2006 to December 2015 and proposed 20 consensus statements in answer to clinical questions regarding SD diagnosis. The statements were graded by level of evidence level according to the 2011 Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine criteria and included in this consensus document for the diagnosis of SD in adults. The consensus statements are the result of literature review according to PICO (P:population/patients, I:intervention/indicator, C:comparator/control, O:outcome) criteria. Evidence-based recommendations on the management of adult patients with SD, with particular attention to radiologic and nuclear medicine diagnosis, were proposed after a systematic review of the literature in the areas of nuclear medicine, radiology, infectious diseases, and microbiology.

RESULTS

A diagnostic flow chart was developed based on the 20 consensus statements, scored by level of evidence according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

This consensus document was developed with a final diagnostic flow chart for SD diagnosis as an aid for professionals in many fields, especially nuclear medicine physicians, radiologists, and orthopaedic and infectious diseases specialists.

Therapeutic effect of minimally invasive catheter drainage and local chemotherapy for the lumbosacral tuberculosis without neural symptoms

Increasing number of studies have shown growing incidence of lumbosacral tuberculosis and its complications. However, the treatment options for this disorder are still limited.To evaluate the long-term therapeutic effect and prognosis of minimally invasive puncture catheter drainage and Isoniazid local chemotherapy for the treatment of lumbosacral tuberculosis without neural symptoms under the guidance of computed tomography (CT).A total of 45 patients with asymptomatic lumbosacral tuberculosis were treated by minimally invasive catheter drainage under CT guidance. Forty-two cases had been followed up, which included 22 women and 20 men with an average age of 36.45 years old. Isoniazid was injected locally and antituberculotic drugs were administered for postoperative treatment. Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), visual analogue scale (VAS) evaluation and Cobb angle were recorded before and after operation.Forty-two patients had been followed up and the follow-up term was from 1.2 to 8.5 years (average 60 months). All patients were healed without recurrent cases. The ODI were improved from 14.86 ± 2.02 before operation to 1.48 ± 1.55 after operation. The post-operative (4.19 ± 1.17) VAS score was improved compared to the pre-operative VAS score (0.55 ± 0.55). The post-operative Cobb angle (6.19° ± 3.85°) was also improved relatively to the preoperative Cobb angle (5.90° ± 3.71°).Minimally invasive puncture catheter drainage combined with Isoniazid local chemotherapy is an effective method for lumbosacral tuberculosis without neural symptom. Meanwhile, it can be applied for the treatment of spinal tuberculosis before open surgery.

Atypical imaging of spinal tuberculosis: a case report and review of literature

This is a case report of spinal tuberculosis combined with sacroiliac joint tuberculosis, pulmonary tuberculosis, chest wall tuberculosis and tuberculous pleurisy and the image of the patient is rare, special and not typical and it looks like a halo sign. It has an important reference value for the diagnosis of spine tuberculosis although it is a rare imaging manifestation and diagnosis was confirmed by pathology after the surgery. Therefore atypical imaging is often appeared in clinical practice and it is meaningful and necessary for the diagnosis of atypical spinal tuberculosis combined with multiple organ tuberculosis.