Pott's disease differential diagnosis

Pott's disease Microchapters
Home
Patient Information
Overview
Historical Perspective
Classification
Pathophysiology
Causes
Differentiating Pott's Disease from other Diseases
Epidemiology and Demographics
Risk Factors
Natural History, Complications and Prognosis
Diagnosis
History and Symptoms
Physical Examination
Laboratory Findings
X Ray
CT
MRI
Other Imaging Findings
Other Diagnostic Studies
Treatment
Medical Therapy
Surgery
Primary Prevention
Secondary Prevention
Cost-Effectiveness of Therapy
Future or Investigational Therapies
Case Studies
Case #1
Pott's disease differential diagnosis On the Web
Most recent articles
Most cited articles
Review articles
CME Programs
Powerpoint slides
Images
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Pott's disease differential diagnosis All Images X-rays Echo & Ultrasound CT Images MRI
Ongoing Trials at Clinical Trials.gov
US National Guidelines Clearinghouse
NICE Guidance
FDA on Pott's disease differential diagnosis
CDC on Pott's disease differential diagnosis
Pott's disease differential diagnosis in the news
Blogs on Pott's disease differential diagnosis
Directions to Hospitals Treating Pott's disease
Risk calculators and risk factors for Pott's disease differential diagnosis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Hardik Patel, M.D.

Overview

Pott's disease resembles spinal tumors, spinal cord abscess, septic arthritis, metastatic cancer, multiple myeloma, miliary tuberculosis. Therefore it must be differentiated from them.

Differentiating Pott's Disease from other Diseases

Pott's disease presents with features of back pain and myelopathy and must be differentiated from the following:

Disease	Age of Presentation	Common site involved	Risk Factors	Clinical Features	Laboratory Findings	Imaging Findings
Pyogenic abscess of the spine	Any age	Lumbar spine	Diabetes mellitus	Fever Back pain Myelopathy	Elevated ESR Elevated WBC's Elevated CRP	Destruction of vertebral bodies and disc spaces Enhancement of the lesion Epidural abscess
Pott's Disease	Children and adults	Upper Lumbar spine Lower Thoracic spine	Exposure to tuberculous infection	Fever Malaise Weight loss Backache Myelopathy	Elevated ESR Normal WBC	Destruction of vertebral bodies and disc spaces Rim enhancement of the soft-tissue masses
Brucella abscess of the spine	Adults	Lumbar spine	Ingestion of unpasteurized milk	Fever Malaise Weight loss Backache	Elevated ESR Elevated WBC Elevated CRP	Intact vertebral architecture even in the presence of diffuse vertebral osteomyelitis
Vertebral Metastasis	Elderly	Thoracic spine	Presence of systemic malignancy	Bone pain at night Backache Radicular pain Myelopathy	Normal WBC Normal ESR Normal CRP	Low signal intensity on T1-weighted images Hypersignal on T2-weighted Heterogeneous enhancement

Table adopted from Spinal Tuberculosis: A Review

Additional differential diagnosis to be considered include:

• Spinal tumors
• Spinal cord abscess
• Septic arthritis
• Metastatic cancer
• Multiple myeloma
• Miliary tuberculosis