Contrast Enhanced MRI of Infectious Spondylitis

Unspecific infectious spondylitis is a potentially curable disease.In untreated cases it is frequently followed by a neurological deficit secondary to compression syndromes of spinal cord and nerve roots or severe axis deviation of vertebral column.Usually there is a rapid onset of symptoms including heavy dorsalgias,fever and an elevation of erythrocyte sedimentation rate.The disease was found to be responsible for low back pain in 0.4 % of 3000 patients,who consulted a medical rehabilitation department (Werner et al. 1988). In this paper typical MRI patterns of spondylitis before and after application of paramagnetic contrast agents are presented.Until now there have been only few communications on this topic (Reiser et al. 1986).