Posterior versus Anterior Approach Surgery for Thoracolumbar Spinal Tuberculosis

The aim of this study was to compare clinical effect of posterior approach and anterior approach surgery for patients with thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis. It was a descriptive, analytical study carried out at the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen City, China, from March 2012 to March 2015. A total of 84 patients with thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis were randomly divided into group A and group B, each group having 42 patients. Group A was treated with posterior approach surgery, while group B was treated with anterior approach surgery. The results showed that operation time, bleeding condition, length of stay of group A were lower than those of group B (p<0.001, p<0.001 and p=0.013, respectively). Compared with group B, the Cobb angle of group A after surgery was lower (p<0.001). At the 28th day after treatment, the serum bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), bone gla protein (BGP), procollagen type I carboxy terminal peptide (CTX) levels of group A were lower than those of group B (p<0.001, p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). As compared to anterior approach surgery, posterior approach surgery was an effective method to treat thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis and reduce serum levels of BAP, BGP and CTX.