Imaging Near Metallic Implants: Initial 0.55T vs. 3T MRI Comparison in Hip Implant Patients

Motivation: Patients with orthopedic metallic implants often require diagnostic imaging to evaluate adjacent tissues. MRI performance, including artifact levels and SNR, varies with field strength. Goal(s): To compare 0.55T and 3T MRI for imaging patients with total hip arthroplasty (THA). Approach: Patients with THA were scanned with similar protocols at 0.55T and 3T, including multi-spectral imaging (MSI). We qualitatively compared the images from both scanners. Results: Metal artifact severity was reduced at 0.55T compared to 3T at the expense of SNR. Diagnostic imaging of patients with titanium hip implants at 0.55T is possible without MSI. Impact: We qualitatively compared 0.55T and 3T image quality in patients with hip replacements. Our findings indicate that 0.55T MRI offers substantially reduced metal artifacts and advanced multi-spectral techniques may not be required in many cases.