Paediatric tubercular spinal abscess involving the dorsal, lumbar and sacral regions and causing spinal cord compression

Abstract

Tubercular spinal localization is very rare (5%) in paediatric age. We report the unusual case of a child with a history of bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination who presented with lymphadenitis in the absence of pulmonary involvement. Despite appropriate anti-tubercular therapy, the patient developed spinal tuberculosis with cord compression. Urgent surgical decompression was performed: laminectomy was done at D3-D5 levels and the higher abscess was then flushed using a catheter, decompressing the cauda equina. Our findings suggest that diagnosis of tuberculosis should be considered even in light of anamnestic vaccination at birth, and that surgical treatment should be rapidly provided in the event of spinal cord compression to avoid devastating sequelae.