What is Spinal Tuberculosis and What Are Its Classifications?

Spinal tuberculosis is actually a general term for diseases such as lumbar tuberculosis, thoracic tuberculosis, or cervical tuberculosis. Among the entire body structure, the lumbar spine has the largest range of motion, so the probability of lumbar tuberculosis is relatively high. Spinal tuberculosis is a secondary infectious disease, with primary diseases mostly being pulmonary tuberculosis, tuberculosis of the digestive tract, or lymphatic tuberculosis. It mainly occurs when Mycobacterium tuberculosis from other parts of the body infects and damages the spine through the bloodstream, leading to bone-destructive diseases of the spine. When spinal tuberculosis progresses to a certain extent, it can induce diseases such as tuberculous abscesses or spinal deformities, triggering physical dysfunction in patients, and some patients may even die. After becoming ill, it is important to pay attention to the classification of the disease, and it is crucial to actively treat it according to symptoms.

With blood flow, Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a certain part of the body infects the spine, damaging its structure, including bones, ligaments, joints, and other local damages, and even causing abscesses, pathological fractures, or compression of the spinal cord by abscesses, leading to a series of symptoms and signs. Clinically, these are collectively referred to as spinal tuberculosis. Spinal tuberculosis is an infectious disease. Most patients have a history of pulmonary tuberculosis or tuberculosis in other parts of the body, and then the spine becomes infected through the bloodstream, known as hematogenous infection, which can cause great harm to the patient's spine.

There are mainly two schemes for the clinical classification of spinal tuberculosis: 1. Classification based on the specific location of onset. If the lesion is located in the center of the vertebral body, it is called central tuberculosis; if the lesion is located on the edge of the vertebral body, it is marginal tuberculosis; after the bone cortex and periosteum are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, large abscesses are more likely to occur, clinically known as the subperiosteal type. Classification based on the location of the lesion is relatively easy for early-stage patients. When the disease progresses to the later stages, it becomes difficult to distinguish between mixed lesions or lesions in multiple stages. 2. Classification into active and inactive stages. The active stage refers to changes in the patient's blood picture and erythrocyte sedimentation rate indicators, with high values and uncontrollable abscesses and lesions at the Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection site. This is known as active tuberculosis. Patients with active tuberculosis require standardized and sufficient anti-tuberculosis treatment during the treatment process. The other is inactive tuberculosis, in which spinal deformities or healing often occur. Specific treatment should be determined based on the actual situation of the lesion.