Radiological evaluation of postoperative osteomyelitis in long bones: Which is the best tool?
Publication Date
2022-01Journal Title
J Perioper Pract
ISSN
1750-4589
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
32
Issue
1-2
Pages
15-21
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Zhou, A. K., Girish, M., Thahir, A., Lim, J. A., Chen, X., & Krkovic, M. (2022). Radiological evaluation of postoperative osteomyelitis in long bones: Which is the best tool?. J Perioper Pract, 32 (1-2), 15-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750458920961347
Abstract
Currently, definitive diagnosis of osteomyelitis involves a combination of clinical signs, symptoms, laboratory tests, imaging modalities and cultures from blood, joint or body fluid. Imaging plays a critical role in the osteomyelitis diagnosis. Each of these tests incurs an additional cost to the patient or healthcare system and their use varies according to the preference of the healthcare professional and the healthcare setup. Imaging plays a critical role in the diagnosis and management of postoperative long bone osteomyelitis, with the aim of reducing long-term complications such as non-union, amputation and pathological fractures. In this review, we discuss the key findings on different radiological modalities and correlate them with disease pathophysiology. Currently, magnetic resonance imaging is the best available imaging modality due to its sensitivity in detecting early signs of long bone osteomyelitis and high soft tissue resolution. Other modalities such as radio-nuclear medicine, computed tomography and ultrasound have been proved to be useful in different clinical scenarios as described in this narrative review.
Keywords
Review Article, Postoperative osteomyelitis, Radiological evaluation, Long bone infection, Diagnostic tools, Health economics
Identifiers
10.1177_1750458920961347
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1750458920961347
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/333178
Rights
Licence:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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