• Twenty cases of vertebral osteomyelitis from three community hospitals were reviewed. Routine spine radiographs were frequently normal in the setting of active vertebral osteomyelitis. Computed tomographic scanning of the spine frequently detected changes in the vertebral end plates that were diagnostic of vertebral osteomyelitis at a time when routine spine radiographs were unrevealing.
(Arch Intern Med. 1989;149:2029-2035)