Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis - exclusion by means of turbo-STIR sequence?

The timely diagnosis and early initiation of antibiotic therapy determine t he clinical course of an acute hematogenous osteomyelitis. Consequently, a fast and efficient MRI examination protocol is crucial. We retrospectively evaluated various MR sequences used in the examination of 8 children having osteomyelitis. The examinations were conducted using a 0.5 T MR machine. A ll patients had a high signal intensity of the lesion in the IR sequence wi th fat suppression (turbo-STIR). An acute osteomyelitis can be excluded in the absence of signal intensity increase in the turbo-STIR sequence without the necessity of having to perform additional sequences.