• Tai-Yuan Chen, Te-Chang Wu, Yu-Kun Tsui, Hou-Hsun Chen, Chien-Jen Lin, Huey-Jen Lee, and Tai-Ching Wu.
• Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Medical Imaging, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan; Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan; Shu Zen College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
• J Neuroimaging. 2015 May 1;25(3):482-7.

Background And PurposeThough diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is useful for diagnosing many pathologies, its use in infectious spondylodiscitis is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the use of DW MRI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) mapping for the diagnosis of infectious spondylodiscitis.MethodsIn this retrospective study, 17 patients with confirmed infectious spondylodiscitis were matched by age and level of infected disc with 17 patients with degenerative disc disease (DDD) and 17 healthy controls. All patients received conventional MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the same imaging session. ADC values of the 3 groups of patients were compared.ResultsThe mean age of each group was 67.4 ± 11.6 years. The mean ADCs of the normal control, DDD, and infectious spondylodiscitis groups were 1.76 ± 0.19 × 10(-3) , 1.12 ± 0.22 × 10(-3) , and 1.27 ± 0.38 × 10(-3) mm2 /second, respectively. The ADCs of the DDD and infectious spondylodiscitis groups were both significantly lower than that of the normal control group (both, P < 0.001).ConclusionThese data suggest that DWI/ADC MRI may be useful in the early diagnosis of infectious spondylodiscitis.© 2014 The Authors. Journal of Neuroimaging published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society of Neuroimaging.

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