Pott's paraplegia in patients with severely deformed dorsal or dorsolumbar spines: treatment and prognosis

Study design: Pott's paraplegic patients with severe spinal deformity were reviewed retrospectively after being treated with chemotherapy and/or decompressive surgery. Objectives: To determine the most appropriate treatment protocol and to predict the prognosis for Pott's paraplegics with severe spinal deformity. Setting: Catholic University of Korea Medical Center and Moon-Kim's Institute of Orthopedic Research, Seoul, Korea from 1971 to 1996. Method: In this study, there were 33 patients (eight children and 25 adults), ranging from 13 to 56 years of age. They developed spinal tuberculosis at the age of 9 years (range, 2-29 years), and remained neurologically symptom free from an average of 16 years (range, 4-27 years). Four adults who responded well to treatment initially suffered relapses of paraplegia. Only six patients had previously received a full course of triple chemotherapy. Seven (two children, five adults) had healed disease, and 26 (six children, 20 adults) had active disease. Eleven cases had frequent drainage from the sinuses. Kyphoscoliosis was found in 11 patients: four children and seven adults. The remaining patients had kyphosis only. Among the 26 patients with active tuberculosis, 10 had triple chemotherapy itself and the rest had additional decompression surgery (10 anterior and six posterior). All seven patients with healed tuberculosis were subjected only to surgery (two anterior and five posterior). Results: In seven patients with healed tuberculosis, surgery did not improve neurologically except in one child patient. In four patients, the severity of paralysis remained unchanged and two patients, deteriorated neurologically after surgery. In six children with active tuberculosis, there were remarkable neurological recoveries by either conservative treatment or surgical decompression. Seven adults with active tuberculosis recovered slowly, improving by one or two Frankel grades (three Frankel C, three D, one E). In 11 out of 13 surgically treated adults with active disease, paralysis that had persisted for less than 3 months gradually improved by one or two Frankel grades. One Frankel A and one Frankel B paraplegic patients who had paralysis that had lasted through 6 months did not recover after surgery. Conclusion: The neurological recovery of Pott's paraplegics with severe spinal deformity resulted in three different outcomes: (1) severe deformity is different from moderate and mild deformities; (2) patients with healed tuberculosis had poorer prognosis than patients with active tuberculosis; (3) children had better prognosis than adults. Furthermore, patients with paralysis persisting over 6 months did not recover neurologically after surgery. Spinal Cord (2003) 41, 164-171. doi:10.1038/sj.sc.3101366.