Role of Nuclear Medicine in the diagnosis of musculoskeletal infection: a review

Inflammatory and infectious osteoarticular diseases can cause serious consequences for the patient if they are not diagnosed on time. In the last decades, different modalities of nuclear medicine have allowed to study the physiopathology of these processes, and nowadays, they play an important role in diagnosis, characterization and monitoring of musculoskeletal infectious diseases. Therefore, it is essential that every nuclear medicine physician have a vision of the advantages and disadvantages of each method and know how to use them correctly in the diagnosis of the patient. This article highlights the role of nuclear medicine in standardizing the diagnostic approach in patients with infectious/inflammatory diseases, in particular in peripheral osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, prosthetic joint infections, infected diabetic foot and spinal infections. The authors reveal the role of the most common radionuclides tests, with their advantages and clinical indications, to achieve an adequate diagnosis of infection and inflammation. (C) 2019 Sociedad Espafiola de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.