MR discrimination of early atypical tuberculous spondylitis from pyogenic spondylitis / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the MRI manifestations and discrimination of tuberculous spondylitis and pyogenic spondylitis with atypical features in early stage. Methods Six patients with pathologically proved tuberculous spondylitis and 7 patients of pyogenic spondylitis with atypical clinical features and were included. MRI features of the vertebral bodies, intervertebral discs, paraspinal soft tissues and their enhancement patterns were analyzed. Chi-Square test was used to compare the MRI features of two diseases. Results Patients with pyogenic spondylitis had a significantly higher incidence of disk space narrowing (8 intervertebral bodies), abnormal signal in superior/inferior of vertebral body (12 intervertebral bodies) and endplate with high signal (13 intervertebral bodies), which were not seen in the patients with tuberculosis spondylitis (P<0.05).Patients with tuberculous spondylitis had a significantly higher incidence of local abnormal signal in anterior of vertebral body (4 intervertebral bodies) and paraspinal abscess spanning vertebral body (5 intervertebral bodies), while none of them was found in patients with pyogenic spondylitis (P<0.05). Conclusion MRI is accurate for the differentiation of tuberculous spondylitis and pyogenic spondylitis with atypical feature in early stage.