MR imaging of spinal epidural sepsis

Four patients with spinal epidural sepsis were evaluated with MR imaging. The lesions were best visualized with spin-echo techniques with long repetition (2000 msec) and long echo (80–100 msec) times. Sagittal and axial images were equally important in defining the extent of the lesions. Comparison...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of neuroradiology : AJNR Vol. 8; no. 5; pp. 879 - 883
Main Authors ANGTUACO, E. J. C, MCCONNELL, J. R, CHADDUCK, W. M, FLANIGAN, S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oak Brook, IL American Society of Neuroradiology 01.09.1987
Subjects
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial diseases of the nervous system. Bacterial myositis
Biological and medical sciences
Human bacterial diseases
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Infection
Extradural
Human
Nervous system diseases
Vertebral canal
Abscess
Bacteriosis
Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging
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Summary:Four patients with spinal epidural sepsis were evaluated with MR imaging. The lesions were best visualized with spin-echo techniques with long repetition (2000 msec) and long echo (80–100 msec) times. Sagittal and axial images were equally important in defining the extent of the lesions. Comparison with available contrast-enhanced CT scans showed that MR was more definitive in the early demonstration of the abscesses. This early recognition influenced the management greatly and improved the clinical outcome significantly. The findings in our four cases support previous reports that MR is superior to other imaging methods for early recognition and anatomic localization of infectious diseases in patients suspected of having either spinal osteomyelitis or spinal epidural sepsis.
ISSN:0195-6108
1936-959X