Pott's disease

me and my group are doing a case presentation about Pott's disease, which is the tuberculosis in the bone. i want this to share this topic to you because based on an interview with a patient, this disease can cause unexplainable back pain.

Tuberculosis (TB) of the spine (Pott’s disease) is the most common site of bone infection in TB; hips and knees are also often affected. The lower thoracic and upper lumbar vertebrae are the areas of the spine most often affected.

Pott’s disease results from haematogenous spread of tuberculosis from other sites, often pulmonary. The infection then spreads from two adjacent vertebrae into the adjoining disc space. If only one vertebra is affected, the disc is normal, but if two are involved the intervertebral disc, which is avascular, cannot receive nutrients and collapses. The disc tissue dies and is broken down by caseation, leading to vertebral narrowing and eventually to vertebral collapse and spinal damage). A dry soft tissue mass often forms and superinfection is rare.
Common signs and symptoms are:

* back pain
* fever
* night sweats
* anorexia
* weight loss

Diagnosis is based on:

* blood tests - elevated ESR
* skin tests
* radiographs of the spine
* bone scan
* CT of the spine
* bone biopsy

Late complications of the disease are:

* severe kyphosis
* sinus formation,
* paraplegia (so called Pott's paraplegia)

Treatment:

* non-operative - antituberculous drugs
* immobilization of the spine region
* operative