Since 1987, över 150 patients with tuberculosis of the spine have been examined in our clinic. The cervi-cal spine was affected in 6 of them. We report here 4 of these patients. The remaining 2 had tuberculosis of the atiatno-axiai joint.

Pain and stiffness were important and dominant symptoms. İn the adult type, the disease is much more lo-calized and produces pus. Often, it present as a destructive lesion in a singie vertebral body vvhich may be difficult to differentiate from metastic disease in the elderly.

The age of patients at the time of presentation ranged from 18 to 43 years. The average number of vertebral bodies involved vvas 2.5. The fifth cervical vertebra vvas most commonly involved. Cord compression par-ticularly in adults is common. The incidence of cord compression was 75 percent (3 out of 4) in our series.

The commonest method of treatment vvas with antituberculotic drogs, anterior excision of the diseased bone and grafting. The anterior operation vvas done through the simple Southvvick-Robinson antreior approach vvhich effectively and rapidly relieved pain. İt vvas also effective in the rapid resolution of cord compression.

There vvas full recovery in cases vvith neurologic deficit at the end of the treatment.

Keywords: Tuberculosis, cervical spine.