Abstract: Osteomyelitis is a progressive bone inflammation caused by bacterial infection, which is an important cause of permanent disability in children and adults all over the world. The effective diagnosis of osteomyelitis in different stages of the disease is a challenging problem in clinic. Imaging with special emphasis on MRI plays a central role in auxiliary diagnosis and guiding clinical treatment of diseases, which can well display anatomical details, has better soft tissue resolution, and shows the progress of extraosseous diseases. Accurate diagnosis of osteomyelitis in different stages requires a better understanding of the key imaging manifestations of the disease. This review points out the developments in the application of fat globules sign, penumbra sign, Brodie abscess and sequestrum related imaging features, which is helpful to better diagnose osteomyelitis and improve the accuracy of the diagnosis of the disease.

Key words: osteomyelitis, magnetic resonance imaging, fat ball sign, penumbra sign, Brodie abscess, dead bone