Posterior-only debridement, internal fixation, and interbody fusion using titanium mesh in the surgical treatment of thoracolumbar tuberculosis with spinal epidural abscess: a minimum 5-year follow-up

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and feasibility of posterior-only debridement, internal fixation, and interbody fusion using titanium mesh in the surgical treatment of thoracolumbar tuberculosis (TB) with spinal epidural abscess. METHODS: From January 2008 to January 2014, a total of 45 patients (27 male and 18 female) were reviewed. The patients were diagnosed with thoracolumbar TB with spinal epidural abscess. The patients underwent posterior-only debridement, internal fixation, and interbody fusion using titanium mesh. Hence, we assessed the intraoperative and postoperative complications, disease recurrences, kyphosis deformity correction, and neurological improvement following the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA). We used SPSS 22.0 for the statistical analyses. An independent Student’s t-test was used for the analysis of preoperative and postoperative continuous variables. The value of P (P < 0.05) was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 37.76 ± 10.94 years (17–59 years). The mean follow-up time was 82.76 ± 12.56 months (60–128 months). The mean kyphosis Cobb angle preoperative was 29.36 ± 13.29° (5–55°) and postoperative was 3.58 ± 5.44° (− 6–13°), given the value of P (P < 0.001). According to the neurological score by the ASIA scale, there were 3 cases of grade B, 11 cases of grade C, 16 cases of grade D, and 15 cases of grade E preoperatively. The neurological score improved by 1 ~ 2 grades. All patients achieved pain relief and the VAS score significantly reduced at the last follow-up (P<0.05). While 1 patient had cerebrospinal fluid leakage, 1 had a neurological complication, 1 had delayed surgical wound healing, and 1 had a disease recurrence. No pseudoarthrosis or implant failure occurred in our patients. All patients achieved solid bone graft fusion. CONCLUSION: For thoracolumbar TB patients with spinal epidural abscess, posterior-only debridement, internal fixation, and interbody fusion using titanium mesh are safe and effective surgical treatments. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12891-021-04797-2.