A. Majority of the patients present late with a long duration of symptoms. The presenting feature may be a deformity or neurological deficit.

Pain or deformity may be the presenting complaint. Pain is insidious in onset, continuous and associated with spasm of paraspinal muscles. The deformity is in the form of a localized kyphosis, which is tender on percussion. The patient may have a cold abscess, which can present itself far away from the vertebral column along fascial planes or along course of neurovascular bundles. The common sites are -

Constitutional symptoms in the form of fever, malaise, loss of weight, loss of appetite may be present.

Neurological complications occur in 10 - 30% of cases. They are of two types:

A. The differential diagnosis includes congenital deformities of the spine, pyogenic or fungal infections, Scheuermann's disease.