ABSTRACT
Imaging is extremely helpful and often necessary in the diagnosis of infection in a critically ill patient. However, neoplastic, immunologic, and inflammatory processes can have very similar appearances on imaging, including on radiographs and CT scans of various parts of the body. Subtle findings are often relied upon to separate these entities and in many patients. Diagnostic certainty is not achieved solely through imaging but in combination with pertinent clinical and laboratory information and, where necessary, with more invasive procedures, including imaging-guided aspiration and biopsy.
