title: 29Si imaging of silicone breast implants and intraocular silicone oil.
abstract: Silicon-29 (29Si) imaging was investigated as a potential imaging modality for monitoring silicone prostheses in humans. The 29Si relaxation times of several silicone gels were measured and found to average T1 = 21.2 +/- 1.5 s and T2 = 207 +/- 40 ms, with no significant difference between virgin and explanted gels. A single-shot half-Fourier rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE) and a refocused gradient-echo sequence were used for acquiring 29Si images with 5 x 5 mm2 resolution and no slice selection. Three volunteers with silicone-gel-filled breast implants and one subject with an intraocular silicone oil injection were thus examined in a total acquisition time of 10-15 min per image. On all 29Si images, the shape of the silicone object was well depicted. Although at present, conventional proton images are superior in resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, 29Si imaging has the advantage of optimal specificity, since only the silicone itself is visible.
authors.affiliation: MR-Center and Biocenter, University of Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haselhorst
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Scheffler
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Faletti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaspar
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prünte
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seelig
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D018427:Breast Implants; D005137:Eye, Artificial; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007554:Isotopes; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012826:Silicone Elastomers / Q000032:analysis*; D012827:Silicone Oils / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D007554:Isotopes; D012826:Silicone Elastomers; D012827:Silicone Oils