Eleven patients with thoracic and lumbar tuberculosis were treated by anterior débridement and fusion combined posterior instrumentation. A one-stage surgery was done on seven patients and a two-stage surgery on four patients. Posterior instruments included seven ISOLA, three Luque rods with sublaminar wiring, and one Spine system. The average range of anterior fusion was 2.4 segments and that of the posterior fixation was 3.8 segments. Seven patients presented paraparesis before surgery and all improved after surgery. None showed persistent or recurrent tuberoculosis. Sagittal alignment, corrected after surgery, was not lost by more than 10 degrees in 10 patients but by 30 degrees in one patient treated with Luque rods. Solid bone union was obtained in all patients. Our study showed that anterior débridement and fusion combined with posterior instrumentation are useful for spinal tuberculosis.
