NEURORADIOLOGY / REVIEW PAPER
Imaging of spinal and central nervous system brucellosis: a review
1
Department of Radiology, Medical University of Białystok, Poland
2
Department of Radiology, VKF American Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
3
Department of Infectious Diseases and Neuroinfections, Medical University of Białystok, Poland
Submission date: 2025-01-14
Acceptance date: 2025-02-06
Publication date: 2025-04-03
Corresponding author
Sebastian Lipka
Department of Radiology, Medical University of Białystok, 24A M. Skłodowskiej-Curie St., 15-276 Białystok, Poland
Department of Radiology, Medical University of Białystok, 24A M. Skłodowskiej-Curie St., 15-276 Białystok, Poland
Pol J Radiol, 2025; 90: 161-169
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Gram-negative bacteria of the Brucella genus that can be acquired through contact with a contaminated animal or its secretions. The course of the disease can be acute, chronic, or persistent. Axial skeleton and central nervous system (CNS) are among the most common affected locations and may be involved in each of the forms. Due to the varying clinical picture of the disease, diagnosis is made mainly on the basis of laboratory examinations that detect specific IgM and IgG antibodies in blood or other biological material and/or cultures. Imaging methods, especially magnetic resonance imaging, can aid in establishing proper diagnosis, monitoring of the disease and, to some extent, enable differential diagnosis before obtaining the laboratory tests results. The aim of this review is to present imaging features of Brucella infection of the spine and CNS and provide the recent advancements in the field.
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