[Differential diagnosis of tuberculous spondylitis under the conditions of a specialized sanatorium].

A total of 477 patients admitted to hospital for tuberculous spondylitis were examined. Further studies revealed that the process in the vertebral column was regarded as degenerative and dystrophic changes in 140 patients, nonspecific osteomyelitis in 94, and cancer in 22. The basis of diagnostic errors was the similarity of some clinical and X-ray manifestations and the pathomorphosis of tuberculous spondylitis, older patients, the wide use of antibiotics, which changes the clinical course of spinal tuberculosis. The causes of great difficulties in the differential diagnosis of tuberculous spondylitis lie in the insufficient diagnostic capacities of district tuberculosis dispensaries and in the clinical and X-ray manifestations of spinal tuberculosis which have changed today.