Spontaneous disappearance of tuberculous psoas abscess calcification.

Calcified psoas abscesses are a characteristic feature of tuberculosis of the thoraco-lumbar spine. We present a case in which well established calcification has almost completely disappeared, several years after any antituberculous treatment. A review of the English literature has revealed no previous report of this finding. The patient, now a 48-year-old woman, first presented at the age of 6 with back pain and radiographic features of spinal tuberculosis at T12/L1. Bilateral calcined psoas abscesses developed over thenext few months. Management was first by bed rest and later, at the age of 12, by postero-lateral drainage with spinal fusion. By this time abscess calcification was well established. The patient then remained relatively well until the age of 33, when she developed girdle pain due to further vertebral destruction at a higher level (T8–T12).