Abstract
Introduction: Osteomyelitis by definition is a secondary inflammation affecting the bone marrow. as the infection progress it can develop to osteonecrosis, septic arthritis and the destruction of bones. It is considered one of the leading causes of permanent disabilities bot children and adults around the world. The most common between children under the age of 5 and adolescences older than 50 years. Typically, osteomyelitis is presented by pain, edema and erythema of the affected part of the body. The goal of this manuscript is to review the currently available imaging modalities that are used for the management, diagnosis and treatment of osteomyelitis.
Aim of work: In this review, we will discuss the currently available imaging modalities that are used for the management, diagnosis and treatment of osteomyelitis
Methodology: We did a systematic search for Imaging in osteomyelitis using PubMed search engine (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and Google Scholar search engine (https://scholar.google.com). All relevant studies were retrieved and discussed. We only included full articles.
Conclusions: Imaging has a crucial role in the diagnosis and management of osteomyelitis. Plain radiographs should ideally be obtained first to exclude other pathologies such as fractures. MRI is the best imaging modality for establishing the diagnosis of osteomyelitis as it can demonstrate bone marrow oedema, confirm the presence of abscesses and delineate extraosseous disease spread. The triple phase bone scan has high sensitivity for detecting acute osteomyelitis in non-violated bone. CT allows visualisation of osseous changes such as sequestrum formation and also for guiding aspiration and biopsy.