[Infections of the cervical spine]

Diagnosis of infectious disease of the spine in an early stage ist difficult. Conventional X-ray examinations, often used as a basic screening study, will show the characteristic narrowing of the intervertebral disc space and the osteolytic and sclerotic changes in the adjointing vertebra only after two to eight weeks. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a sensitivity equivalent to bone scintigraphy and, due to its superior delineation of anatomic details, MRI has become the method of choice not only for the assessment of location, extent, and associated lesions in infectious bone disease, but also in the diagnosis of intradural infections including myelitis. MRI examination in the assessment of a successful therapy or osteomyelitis of the spine aims for the detection of regression of bone marrow edema, reappearance of fatty marrow, and less pronounced contrast enhancement. Computed tomography (CT) is mainly used for image-guided biopsy to obtain specimen for microbiologic culture or for the placement of a percutaneous drainage.