후궁을 침범한 척추 결핵 1례

Abstract

Though the incidence of tuberculous spondylitis in Korea has been steadily reduced recently, it is not uncommon yet. But the incidence of appendiceal tuberculosis fo the spine that is involving the posterior element of the spine is very rate. The diagnosis of this entity is often delayed because involvement of posterior element is poorly visualized by conventional radiograph. The computed tomography is much more sensitive method in visualization of the lesion. Paraplegia is a common complication of this entity because of 1) vicinity of the lesion to the spinal cord; tuberculous products can directly compress the spinal cord and partly because of 2) missing the diagnosis or delayed diagnosis. So the diagnosis of the posterior element tuberculosis should be kept in mind when vague radiological change is noted in conventional radiograph in patient with clinical symptoms. The bone scan, computed tomography or MRI is highly recommended for visualization of the lesion in such a case, thus leading to early diagnosis. Authors have experienced a case of spinal tuberculosis iinvolving posterior elements which confirmed by surgical biopsy and we are reporting this case with a review of literatures.