Radiologic Mimics of Osteomyelitis and Septic Arthritis: A Pictorial Essay

Figure 4

Tuberculous osteomyelitis. Postcontrast axial (a) and sagittal (b) chest CT of a 34-year-old patient with biopsy-proven TB discitis-osteomyelitis. There is lytic destruction of the T7 vertebral body anteriorly ((b) white arrow). There is subligamentous soft tissue density extending from T5-T8 (A yellow and B white arrows) with relative sparing of the adjacent T7 end plates (b black arrow). Sagittal T1 (c) and STIR (d) of a different patient with T9/10 osteomyelitis (c arrow) and pronounced subligamentous spread of disease from T8/9-T11 (d arrow). Note the relative sparing of the disc in early disease (c arrow).

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