Tuberculous spondylitis in adults: a case series from a reference hospital in Lima, Peru

We describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of adult patients with tuberculous spondylitis as well as an exploratory analysis that seeked to establish patient characteristics that contributed to the development of this disorder at a reference hospital in Lima. This is a case-series descriptive study where data collection from 33 medical records of patients from 1999 to 2009 was done. Eighteen (55%) were male. Median age was 31 years (IQR 23 to 51 years). Median time of symptoms was 3 months (IQR 1 to 8 months). The most frequent symptom was back pain in 28 (85%). The most frequently affected areas were the thoracic spine involved in 28 (60%) cases and lumbar spine in 13 (28%). Pulmonary tuberculosis was present in fourteen (42%) cases. Twenty four (73%) patients received first line treatment. Treatment duration was 10.5 ± 4.2 months. Clinical and diagnostic characteristics were similar to previous Peruvian case reports and current literature.