A thoracic tuberculous spondylodisctis after intravesical BCG immunotherapy of bladder cancer – Case report and literature review

We report a rare case of tuberculosis of the thoracic spine caused by Mycobacterium bovis infection as a complication of BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) intravesical immunotherapy, which is a well known and acknowledged treatment of superficial bladder cancers applied since 1976. Although this therapy is broadly used in urology and considered to be safe and well tolerated, one should be aware of the potential local and systemic side effects as in the case of our patient, who developed tuberculous spondylodiscitis after intravesical BCG therapy.