Tuberculous myelitis: a systematic review of published case reports and case series.

Study design: A systematic review.

Objectives: Tuberculous myelitis, an uncommon disorder, often manifests as transverse myelopathy. The majority of the literature comprises isolated case reports, necessitating a systematic review for better understanding and management.

Setting: Uttar Pradesh India.

Methods: Our review followed PRISMA guidelines, searching PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar with no language constraints. Quality assessment of reports was based on selection, ascertainment, causality, and reporting. Data synthesis was qualitative with categorical and continuous data representation.

Results: We analyzed 34 reports describing 39 individuals. The majority (85%) had a duration of illness of one month or less. Upper motor neuron paraparesis was the most common neurological manifestation (69.2%), followed by areflexic paraparesis (15.3%). Paradoxical reactions occurred in 20.5% of cases. Microbiological confirmation was achievable in approximately 77% of cases. Neuroimaging abnormalities were present in 41% of cases, and chest imaging abnormalities in 53.9%. Longitudinally-extensive hyperintensities in cervical and thoracic regions were common spinal imaging abnormalities. Central nervous system tuberculosis was confirmed in 47.7% of cases, while pulmonary and disseminated tuberculosis were each found in 25.6%. Improvement was noted in 87.2% of cases, while 10.3% did not improve or died.

Conclusion: Tuberculous myelitis, is a distinct spinal cord disease. Most cases had microbiological confirmation, and the majority showed improvement with treatment.