Seminars in musculoskeletal radiology
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Semin Musculoskelet Radiol · Sep 2011
ReviewManaging postoperative artifacts on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.
Orthopedic hardware should not be considered a contraindication to computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The hardware alloy, the geometry of the hardware, and the orientation of the hardware all affect the magnitude of image artifacts. For commonly encountered alloys, the severity of image artifacts is similar for CT and MR. ⋯ A turbo spin-echo sequence yields the best results. The use of larger image matrices, thinner slices, and a wide receiver bandwidth are recommended parameter adjustments when imaging patients with hardware. This article discusses how hardware-related artifacts can be minimized by altering scan technique and image reconstruction.