Irfanullah Shah, Abdul Razaque Mari, Aun Ali, Junaid Ashraf.
Comparative study of combined surgical and medical management with medical management alone in spinal tuberculosis.
Pak J Surg Jan ;28(4):291-6.

Objectives:Compare the short term outcome in combined surgical and medical management with medical management alone in tuberculosis of spine, with six months follow up. Study design: Clinical Trials (RCTs) Sett ing and Duration: Department of Neurosurgery, Dow University of Health Sciences/ Civil Hospital, Karachi, three years from June 2006 to May 2009. Patients &methods: Th is study was conducted in two groups, thirty patients in each group; they were diagnosed as cases of tuberculosis of the spine on the basis of history, clinical examination, ESR, X-Ray spine and MRI spine appearances. All patients were randomly distributed in two groups; one group was treated with medical treatment (ATT ) alone, while other underwent surgical intervention along with the ATT . Results: Statistically no diff erence was found in between the treatment groups at fi nal follow up visit at 6th month in terms of Frankel Grade, bladder involvement and ESR decline. Conclusion: We recommend that surgery is not benefi cial in every patient with spinal tuberculosis in our limited resources society.

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