Vertebral bodies show variable degrees of destruction. Fusiform paravertebral shadows suggest abscess formation. Bone lesions may occur at more than one level.Bone scan
Computed tomography of the spine
Bone biopsy
MRI

Prevention
Controlling the spread of tuberculosis infection can prevent tuberculous spondylitis and arthritis. Patients who have a positive PPD test (but not active tuberculosis) may decrease their risk by properly taking medicines to prevent tuberculosis. To effectively treat tuberculosis, patients must take their medications exactly as prescribed. Management
Nonoperative – antituberculous drugs
Analgesics
Immobilization of the spine region using different types of braces and collars
Surgery may be necessary, especially to drain spinal abscesses or debride bony lesions fully or to stabilize the spine. A 2007 review found just two randomized clinical trials with at least one-year follow-up that compared chemotherapy plus surgery with chemotherapy alone for treating people diagnosed with active tuberculosis of the spine. As such, no high-quality evidence exists, but the results of this study indicates that surgery should not be recommended routinely and clinicians have to selectively judge and decide on which patients to operate. Thoracic spinal fusion with or without instrumentation as a last resort. Physical therapy for pain-relieving modalities, postural education, and teaching a home-exercise program for strength and flexibility

Prognosis
Vertebral collapse resulting in kyphosis
Spinal cord compression
Sinus formation
Paraplegia (so-called Potts paraplegia)

History
Saint Gemma of Lucca had tuberculosis of the spine. English poets Alexander Pope and William Ernest Henley both had Pott disease. Anna Roosevelt Cowles, sister of President Theodore Roosevelt, had Pott disease.
Søren Kierkegaard may have died from Pott disease, according to professor Kaare Weismann and literature scientist Jens Staubrand
Chick Webb, a swing-era drummer and band leader, was affected by tuberculosis of the spine as a child, which left him hunchbacked, and eventually caused his death. The Sicilian mafia boss Luciano Leggio had the disease and wore a brace. Italian writer, poet, and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi had the disease. It features prominently in the book This Is a Soul, which chronicles the work of American physician Rick Hodes in Ethiopia. Jane Addams, social activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, had Pott disease. Willem Ten Boom, brother of Corrie Ten Boom, died of tuberculosis of the spine in December 1946
Writer Max Blecher had Pott disease. His story is portrayed in the 2016 film Scarred Hearts. Marxist thinker and Communist leader Antonio Gramsci had Pott disease, probably due to the bad conditions of his incarceration in fascist Italy during the 1930s. Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, leading to World War I, died in prison of bone tuberculosis. English writer Denton Welch (1915–1948) died of spinal tuberculosis after being involved in a motor accident (1935) that irreparably damaged his spine. Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

In works of fiction
In Ernest Pooles Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, His Family, young Johnny Geer has a terminal case of Pott disease. The fictional Hunchback of Notre Dame has a gibbus deformity similar to the type caused by tuberculosis.