Brucellar spondylitis: a rare cause of spinal cord compression.

STUDY DESIGN: A case report. OBJECTIVES: To present and discuss some of the difficulties in the diagnosis of brucellar spondylitis. SETTING: Ankara University, Ibni Sina Hospital, Turkey. METHODS: We report a patient with paraplegia, misdiagnosed as having a malignancy or tuberculosis who actually suffered from brucellar spondylitis. Diagnosis was established by her history and a compatible clinical picture together with a standard tube agglutination (Wright test) titer of > or =1/160 of antibodies for brucellosis. The patient was treated with oral doxycycline, rifampicin, and ciprofloxacin combination. RESULTS: At the end of the treatment, the blood Brucella Wright and anti-human globulin T titer levels decreased. Her lower limb weakness improved. She could walk, and climb stairs with the help of a cane. Urinary retention and fecal incontinence also resolved. CONCLUSION: Brucellosis is a systemic infection involving the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. Spondylitis frequently occurs in elderly patients. An early diagnosis of brucellar spondylitis can often be difficult. In endemic regions, as in the case of our country, brucellar spondylitis should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of older patients with back pain and constitutional symptoms. An early diagnosis will help to prevent the development of more severe complications such as spinal cord compression.

Adaptation of the modified Barthel Index for use in physical medicine and rehabilitation in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to adapt the modified Barthel Index for Turkey and to determine its reliability and validity. After the translation procedure, 50 stroke patients and 50 spinal cord injury patients, undergoing inpatient rehabilitation were assessed by the newly adapted index at admission and discharge. Reliability was tested using internal consistency, inter-rater reliability and the intra-class correlation coefficient. Construct validity was assessed by association with impairments (Brunnstrom motor stages in stroke, American Spinal Injury Association motor/sensory scores and impairment scale in spinal cord injury) and by Rasch analysis. Internal consistency was good at 0.93 for stroke, and 0.88 for spinal cord injury. The level of agreement between two raters was sufficient with Kappa levels of above 0.5 for spinal cord injury and above 0.6 for stroke. Intra-class correlation coefficients were 0.99 and 0.77 for stroke and spinal cord injury, respectively. The newly adapted index showed expected associations with the impairment scales, confirming its construct validity. However, Rasch analysis showed that bladder and bowel items compromise unidimensionality. In conclusion, adaptation of the modified Barthel Index has been successful and it can be used in Turkey as long as its limitations are recognized.