Global Spinal Realignment After Osteotomized Debridement in Active Lumbar Spinal Tuberculosis: Correlation with Patient-Reported Outcomes

Osteotomized debridement (OD) has been proved to be highly effective in treating active thoracolumbar tuberculosis (TB); however, no research has investigated how OD affects spinal alignment. The goal of this study was to explore the global alignment compensatory mechanism after lumbar OD, as well as the correlation between spinopelvic parameters and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Sixty-two patients with active lumbar spinal TB who underwent OD surgery were included. Spinopelvic parameters (C2-7 Cobb angle [C2-7 CA], sagittal vertical axis [SVA], proximal thoracic kyphosis, thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis [LL], sacral slope [SS], pelvic tilt [PT], pelvic incidence [PI], spinosacral angle, and PI minus LL [PI–LL]) and PROs (Oswestry Disability Index [ODI] and Visual Analog Scale [VAS] score) were reviewed. The correlation between spinopelvic realignment and improved PROs was evaluated. Compared with preoperative measurements, C2-7 CA, proximal thoracic kyphosis, thoracic kyphosis, LL, SS, and spinosacral angle significantly increased after OD, whereas SVA, PT, and PI–LL significantly decreased. ODI and VAS score significantly improved postoperatively. The improvement of VAS was observed to be correlated with variations of C2-7 CA, SVA, LL, and PI–LL. The improvement of ODI was found to be correlated with variations of SVA, LL, and PI–LL. The multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that LL was an independent predictor for ODI and VAS score. The whole spine and pelvis are involved in realignment after lumbar spinal OD, which is closely related to PROs. More attention should be drawn to restoring an appropriate LL in lumbar TB surgery.