Spinal Tuberculosis: Rethinking an Old Disease

Despite of the fact that the earliest cases of Spinal Tuberculosis date from 2400 BC, the first modern description was made in 1779 by Sir Percival Pott in the European population. The improvement of public health measures and the introduction of effective anti-tuberculosis drugs have made the infection virtually eradicated in developed countries. However, migration phenomena, the infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other causes of immunodeficiency as diabetes and cancer chemotherapy have led to a resurgence of tuberculosis in parts of the world where the disease was sporadic or unknown. It is currently considered a public health problem, both in developed and developing countries. Recently the clinical and radiological features of Spinal Tuberculosis have changed considerably. Atypical presentations are more common nowadays. The improvement of diagnosis and terapeutic management has lead to better clinical outcomes. However, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment remain the mainstay predictors of successful outcomes, preventing the most serious complications of Spinal Tuberculosis: neurological deficits and spinal deformities. The main aim of this review is to discuss the historical aspects of the disease management as well as the most recent challenges. The authors included articles with ac ceptable design, clearly explained results and justified con­ clusions according to the data, regardless of their time of publication. *Corresponding author: Sofia Esteves, Serviço de Ortopedia do, Centro Hospitalar do Tâmega e Sousa, Penafiel, Portugal, Tel: +351 255 714 000; E­mail: sofiaestevesvieira@gmail. com Received February 04, 2017; Accepted February 21, 2017; Published February 23, 2017 Citation: Esteves S, Catarino I, Lopes D, Sousa C (2017) Spinal Tuberculosis: Rethinking an Old Disease. J Spine 6: 358. doi: 10.4172/2165­7939.1000358 Copyright: © 2017 Esteves S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.