Despite 50 years of antibiotics, infection remains a major source of
both morbidity and mortality. Immunosuppression, either secondary to
drugs in transplant recipients or secondary to HIV, has expanded the
number of microorganisms that are known to be pathogenic in man.
Imaging of infection has a vital role both in the initial diagnosis and
in the continuing management of patients with infection or suspected
infection. Functional imaging using nuclear medicine techniques has a
unique role to play in identifying sites of infection in a wide range of
patients with varying clinical conditions.
This book, written by a series of experts not just in the fields of
nuclear medicine but also infectious disease and radiology, discusses
the role of nuclear medicine in three parts:
-
a review of the pathophysiology of infection;
-
a technical description of those nuclear medicine techniques which can
be used in imaging infection;
-
an extensive systematic review including thoracic, abdominal and
orthopaedic infection as well as a special section on the acutely ill
patient, the immunosuppressed patient and the patient with pyrexia of
unknown origin.
This book will be of interest to all clinicians looking after patients
with infection and who need to use imaging techniques. It will also be
of use to radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians who will be using
these techniques clinically.