Utilizing Software to Help Radiologists See Beyond A Metal Implant or Joint Replacement

If you are a patient who has a metal implant or joint replacement, you might not realize how this implant could affect future imaging exams. For some patients who have had an implant placed, they may need additional imaging with either a CT or MRI. For those patients, the image quality may be degraded. However, at Community Radiology Associates, new techniques allow for high resolution imaging of your bones and surrounding structures. 

What happens?
The metal implant in your body will cause a metal artifact. A metal artifact can create an image that is not truly there or distort an image that is there. Unfortunately, some metal artifacts may prevent your radiologist from fully seeing all of the surrounding structures around your implant.

What does Community Radiology do?
By employing certain protocols, such as Metal Artifact Reduction Sequences (MARS), we are now better able to overcome these metal artifacts by enhancing the image quality. This allows your Community Radiologist to best see the implant and surrounding structures and make the best, most accurate diagnosis for the patient.