Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Spinal Infection and Malignancy

Abstract

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging has limited usefulness for differentiating spinal infection and malignancy.

Diffusion‐weighted imaging for non‐invasive and quantitative monitoring of bone marrow infiltration in patients with monoclonal plasma cell disease: a comparative study with histology

“…This should be further investigated using IVIM-DWI. We also believe that this effect may have occurred in other studies producing similar results, because several studies have shown the same trend as our analysis (Chan et al, 2002;Nonomura et al, 2001;Pui et al, 2005).…”

Diffusion‐Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Mapping for Diagnosing Infectious Spondylodiscitis: A Preliminary Study

“…Many imaging techniques, including conventional plain radiography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and radionuclide studies have been used to diagnose spinal infections. Of these, MRI is the most sensitive (93‐96%) and specific (92.5‐97%) modality for early detection of spinal infections …”

“…On the other hand, Beattie et al performed serial DWI of the lumbar spine in 21 subjects 4 to 7 weeks apart and found that although degenerated discs had lower mean ADC values than normal discs and exhibited greater variation, DWI/ADC was of value in assessing changes in the diffusion of water in lumbar discs over time. There have been only a few studies and case reports regarding the use of DWI to diagnose spinal infections involving the vertebral body, epidural space, spinal cord, and paraspinal soft tissue . There have been no studies specifically evaluating the use of DWI/ADC for the diagnosis of infected intervertebral discs.…”

“…Of these, MRI is the most sensitive (93-96%) and specific (92.5-97%) modality for early detection of spinal infections. [1][2][3][4] Several MRI characteristics have been described in pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis and spondylodiscitis including This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. decreased signal intensity on T1-weighted images, increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images, enhancement on contrast-enhanced MR images in the disc and adjacent vertebral bodies, erosion or destruction of at least 1 vertebral endplate, decreased disc height, an absent intranuclear cleft, paraspinal and/or epidural inflammatory soft tissue, and abscess formation.…”

“…There have been only a few studies and case reports regarding the use of DWI to diagnose spinal infections involving the vertebral body, epidural space, spinal cord, and paraspinal soft tissue. 4,[19][20][21][22][23] There have been no studies specifically evaluating the use of DWI/ADC for the diagnosis of infected intervertebral discs.…”