[Diagnostic capacities of laser biophotometry in spinal tuberculosis]

The capacities of laser biophotometry in the diagnosis of tuberculous spondylitis and its complications were studied in 42 patients with this disease and in controls. There was a definite significant trend of changes in the reflection coefficient of a laser signal in patients with an active inflammatory process in the vertebrae, which makes it possible to establish a differential diagnosis of the above conditions and to determine the time course of changes in the specific process in the vertebral column during therapy. Comparative analysis of the proposed method with the thermographic technique used in clinical practice demonstrated that the validity of laser biophotometry was highly competitive with that of thermography.