Thoracolumbar tuberculosis spondylitis: an analytical literature review of surgical reconstruction techniques

Introduction Tuberculous spondylitis is the most common extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The thoracolumbar lesion due to tuberculous spondylitis is one of the most difficult locations for surgical treatment. Analysis of the recent literature shows a limited amount of data on the results of various current surgical reconstruction techniques. Purpose To review the literature on surgical treatment of thoracolumbar tuberculous spondylitis published during the last five years and judge upon an optimal method. Materials and methods A systematic literature review was performed of the sources from eLibrary, PubMed, Cochrane Library databases. Inclusion criteria: etiologically verified tuberculous spondylitis of thoracolumbar location, follow-up ≥ 1 year, patients older than 18 years. Twenty-one studies that summarize 1,209 cases were selected. Patients were divided into three groups depending on the method of spinal reconstruction (group 1 – ventral approach, group 2 – combined approach, group 3 – dorsal approach). Surgical indicators, correction of kyphotic deformity and its dynamics in the long-term period, rates of complications and the length of hospital stay were analyzed. Results and discussion Blood loss and duration of the intervention were significantly lower in the reconstruction of the thoracolumbar spine from the dorsal approach (599.6 ± 195.1 ml and 196.3 ± 35.6 min). Correction of kyphotic deformity from posterior and combined approaches was higher than in the reconstruction from the ventral approach (64 and 69 %, respectively). At the same time, an inverse proportional dependence of the degree of correction loss in the long-term period was revealed, which was higher with anterior fusion (7.3° ± 1.7° according to Cobb). The duration of hospital stay was shorter in patients with reconstructions from the dorsal approach (13.7 ± 8.2 days). The rate of complications in group 3 was significantly lower (p < 0.0001), while the assessment of their structure indicates prevalence of neurological deficits in dorsal reconstructions, while in ventral and combined reconstructions, infectious complications, pneumothorax, and chronic pain syndrome in the area of autologous costal graft harvesting. Conclusion The optimal method of surgical treatment of thoracolumbar tuberculous spondylitis is a three-column reconstruction from the dorsal approach. The advantages of the method are a decrease in the rate of postoperative complications, a reduction in the duration of inpatient treatment, surgical blood loss and duration of surgical intervention.