Efficacy and safety of short-term chemotherapy for patients with spinal tuberculosis undergoing surgery in Chinese population: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this meta-analysis was to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of short-course chemotherapy (≤ 6 months) compared with the standard therapy (9–18 months) for patients with spinal tuberculosis (TB) undergoing surgery in Chinese population. METHODS: In this meta-analysis, we searched electronic databases in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP), and Wanfang data to determine the equivalence of short-course therapy (group A) and standard therapy (group B) for the drug therapy of TB in Chinese population up to December 24, 2019. Weighted mean difference (WMD), odds risk (OR), and their 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. All analyses of relevant outcome indicators were managed by using the Review Manager (RevMan) 5.2 software. RESULTS: This meta-analysis included six trials published involving 851 patients (group A, 397; group B, 454) with spinal TB. Results showed there were no significant differences between group A and group B in clinical cure rate (OR = 0.61; 95% CI 0.19–2.00, p > 0.05), change of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (WMD = − 0.75; 95% CI − 3.33 to 1.83; p > 0.05) and bone graft fusion rate (OR = 2.32; 95% CI 0.36–14.81, p > 0.05). Meanwhile, there were fewer side effects (OR = 0.37; 95% CI 0.24–0.58, p < 0.05) in group A compared with group B. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this meta-analysis showed that for patients with spinal TB undergoing surgery in Chinese population, short-course chemotherapy could be equivalent to the standard chemotherapy in terms of efficacy and have less side effects than the latter. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13018-021-02375-9.