Ces radiol. 2025, 79(4):268-276 | DOI: 10.55095/CesRadiol2025/037

CRMO - inflammatory spinal disease in children from a radiologist's perspectiveReview article

Jan Šenkyřík¹, Ivana Červinková¹, Marcel Schüller²

¹ Oddělení dětské radiologie, Klinika radiologie a nukleární medicíny LF MU a FN, Brno

² Pediatrická klinika LF MU a FN, Brno Korespondenční adresa:

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a skeletal inflammatory disease that affects children and adolescents. Its insidiousness lies in the unclear clinical presentation with variable intensity of subjective symptoms lasting months and years. Radiodiagnostic examination findings may also be uncharacteristic, since individual lesions go through phases of progression and healing over time. Spinal involvement in CRMO is one of the most common localizations and its early recognition is crucial for initiating effective therapy and preventing serious complications and vertebral deformities. Fundamental in the diagnosis of CRMO is the differentiation of non-bacterial inflammatory focal changes of the skeleton from other skeletal affections, such as traumatic or congenital changes, bacterial osteomyelitis and tumor or tumor-like lesions typical of childhood.

Strengthening awareness of CRMO among the professional medical community aims to permanently expand differential diagnostic considerations towards this non-bacterial bone inflammation and thereby reduce the level of clinical problems of affected pediatric patients.

Keywords: CRMO, diagnostic algorithm, differential diagnosis, pediatric population.

Received: September 29, 2025; Revised: September 29, 2025; Accepted: October 1, 2025; Published: January 1, 2026  Show citation