Treatment of lavage drainage under spinal endoscopy on lumbar spinal tuberculosis with vertebral lesions

To investigate the efficacy and safety of the treatment of percutaneous endoscopic debridement (PED) and continuous lavage drainage (CLD) on lumbar tuberculosis. Total 31 patients diagnosed with lumbar tuberculosis, who underwent the PED and CLD from January 2012 to January 2018 in our hospital were included. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, complications were analyzed. The recovery of local tuberculosis was evaluated by erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after operation. The patients were followed up for 18 to 84 months. At the last follow-up, lumbar lordosis (LL), the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score and imaging data were used to evaluate the recovery of spinal structure and function. There were no complications for all patients. During the follow-up of 3 to 12 months after operation, ESR and CRP returned to normal. The VAS score of local pain was significantly lower than that before operation (p < 0.05). The LL and JOA scores of the patients at the last follow-up were significantly better than those before operation (p < 0.05), and the lumbar CT and MR suggested the healing of vertebral lesions. PED and CLD might be an effective surgical treatment for spinal tuberculosis.