So far, there have been few previous reports of tuberculous
spondylitis occurring after percutaneous
vertebroplasty. We report an unusual case of tuberculous
spondylitis diagnosed after percutaneous
vertebroplasty in a patient who had a history of
pulmonary tuberculosis for the first time. A 58-year-old woman, who had a history of complete recovery from
pulmonary tuberculosis six years previously, was hospitalized due to severe
back pain after a fall. Radiological studies revealed a fresh
compression fracture at the T12 thoracic vertebra. The
back pain improved dramatically, and the patient was discharged two days after the
vertebroplasty. However, cold sweats and a low grade
fever with severe
back pain developed four weeks after the procedure. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a severe
kyphosis and the T11-T12 disc space had collapsed with heterogeneous signal intensity. The results of the culture of the biopsy specimens were negative, and did not lead to identification of the causative micro-organism. However, the polymerase chain reaction for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was positive. Treatment for tuberculous
spondylitis was started and she underwent posterior fusion and instrumentation from T9-L2 after the markers for
infection returned to normal. After surgical intervention, the
pain improved and the kyphotic
deformity was corrected.