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Semin Musculoskelet Radiol 2022; 26(04): 387-395
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1749619
Review Article

Imaging of Spine Infections

Vito Chianca 
1   Clinica di Radiologia EOC IIMSI, Lugano, Switzerland
2   Ospedale Evangelico Betania, Naples, Italy
,
Majid Chalian
3   Division of Musculoskeletal Imaging and Intervention, Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
,
Dorothee Harder
4   Department of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
,
Filippo Del Grande
1   Clinica di Radiologia EOC IIMSI, Lugano, Switzerland
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Abstract

The incidence of spondylodiskitis has increased over the last 20 years worldwide, especially in the immunodepressed population, and it remains a complex pathology, both in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Because clinical symptoms are often nonspecific and blood culture negative, imaging plays an essential role in the diagnostic process. Magnetic resonance imaging, in particular, is the gold standard technique because it can show essential findings such as vertebral bone marrow, disk signal alteration, a paravertebral or epidural abscess, and, in the advanced stage of disease, fusion or collapse of the vertebral elements. However, many noninfectious spine diseases can simulate spinal infection. In this article, we present imaging features of specific infectious spine diseases that help radiologists make the distinction between infectious and noninfectious processes.

Keywords

spondylodiskitis - pyogenic - spine infection - tuberculosis - modalities


Publication History

Article published online:
14 September 2022

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