Diagnostic Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Diagnosis of Spinal Tuberculosis

Objective: To determine diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing spinal tuberculosis, taking histopathology findings as gold standard. Study Design: Descriptive, Cross-sectional Validation study. Settings: Department of Radiology, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad-Pakistan. Duration: 6 months. Methodology: A total of 147 patients with suspected spinal tuberculosis of age 25-65 years of either gender were included. Patients with h/o of anti-tuberculous therapy, h/o trauma to spine and contraindication of MRI were excluded. All the patients were then underwent magnetic resonance imaging of spine and were looked for presence or absence of 0073pinal tuberculosis. MRI findings were compared with histopathology. Results: Mean age was 49.82 ± 11.00 years. Out of these 147 patients, 95 (66.67%) were male and 52 (33.33%) were females with ratio of 1.8:1. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing spinal tuberculosis, taking histopathology findings as gold standard was 92.13%, 84.48%, 90.11%, 87.50% and 89.12% respectively. Conclusion: This study concluded that magnetic resonance imaging is the non-invasive modality of choice with high diagnostic accuracy in diagnosing spinal tuberculosis.