Brain abscess remains a serious inflammatory brain disease with significant morbidity and mortality. Neuroimaging is an essential part of diagnostic process, postcontrast T1-weighted imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging in particular.
The examination should also include in vivo proton (H-1) spectroscopy. Its role in differentiating similarly appearing intracranial cystic lesions was confirmed.
Spectroscopy is increasingly being used in experimental and clinical applications noninvasive identification of bacterial type, evaluation of chronological change of the brain abscess, assessment of therapy and postoperative changes. This paper summarizes current findings of in vivo proton MR spectroscopy in the diagnosis of cerebral abscess.