Skeletal lesions in human tuberculosis may sometimes heal: an aid to palaeopathological diagnoses.

ABSTRACT: In three to five percent of active cases of tuberculosis, skeletal lesions develop. Typically, these occur on the vertebrae and are destructive in nature. In this paper, we examined cases of skeletal tuberculosis from a skeletal collection (Galler Collection) with focus on the manifestation of bony changes due to tuberculosis in various body regions in association with antibiotic introduction. This skeletal collection was created in 1925-1977 by a pathologist at the University Hospital in Zürich, Ernst Galler. It includes the remains of 2426 individuals with documented clinical histories as well as autopsies. It contained 29 cases of skeletal tuberculosis lesions. We observed natural healing of vertebral lesions through several processes including fusion of vertebrae, bone deposition and f

SUBMITTER: Holloway KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3634763 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature