[Inflammation of the anterior chest wall: its assessment by magnetic resonance]

Magnetic resonance (MR) is the imaging method used to assess primary and secondary inflammatory lesions of the chest wall. Five patients with inflammatory lesions of the anterior chest wall were submitted to MR examinations in order to define the role of this method in both identification and assessment of the extent of tissue involvement. In all the examined patients MR Imaging accurately showed the involved muscle groups and the presence/absence of mediastinitis. MR Imaging easily detected sternal and clavicular osteomyelitis; in one patient only MR failed to detect osteomyelitis of the first rib. The accurate assessment of soft tissue infections enabled us to select the most suitable surgical therapy to reduce esthetic damage. Two cases were restudied after chest wall reconstruction by means of rotated pectoral flaps. In the 2 patients in whom the differential diagnosis between inflammatory lesion and recurrent tumor could not be made by means of MR Imaging, CT-guided needle biopsy was performed.