Out of 30 million people in the world, one-third of Indian population suffers from tuberculosis of the spine.Experts at a press conference,organized by Association of spine Surgeons of India (ASSI) says that tuberculosis of spine should be taken very seriously as it may have disastrous and very many irreversible complications.
Tuberculosis of the spine is generally known as Pott’s disease or tuberculosis spondylitis.
Dr.Mahesh Bijjawara,consultant spine surgeon,from Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain hospital says “The symptoms are back pain,low fever,a hump in the back and in worst cases, paralysis in the limb. The tuberculosis bacteria invade the vertebrae and induce destruction of the bones of the spine,resulting in pus formation and instability of the spine and appearance of deformity of the back.'”
Spinal tuberculosis usually affects the lumbar spine and lower thoracic spine and could even also affect your hip and knee regions.Since spinal tuberculosis deforms your spinal cord,people could suffer from hunchback and distorted posture due to the disease.
The common symptoms are Weight loss, Fever, Chest pain,night sweats,and pain and stiffness in limbs.
Dr. Bijjawara added, “Once the patient reaches the stage of paralysis,even with good surgical treatment the recovery from paralysis may not always be possible.”
He further says that there are effective drugs now available to cure the disease with early detections as to start the correct treatment.
The diagnosis of Pott’s disease is based on blood tests, bone scan and CT scan or radiography of the spinal cord.