Diagnosis of bone tuberculosis
Common methods for diagnosing bone tuberculosis include:
Bacterial culture: people with bone tuberculosis are highly likely to develop lung infections.
Therefore, doctors often take sputum samples for testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.
Biopsy: the doctor may order a biopsy, which consists of taking part of the tissue around the infected area and checking for the existence of bacteria that cause bone tuberculosis.
Examination of body fluids: the doctor may suck pleural fluid to check for infection or take cerebrospinal fluid around the spinal cord, synovial fluid for diagnostic tests for bone tuberculosis.