title: Artifacts and pitfalls in MR imaging of the pelvis.
abstract: Artifacts are intimately intertwined with MRI. For the practicing radiologist, effective supervision, troubleshooting, and interpretation of diagnostic MR studies require a solid knowledge of the pertinent artifacts. This article seeks to familiarize the reader with commonly encountered artifacts and pitfalls in pelvic imaging, the mechanism behind their generation, and methods of minimizing their negative impact or maximizing their diagnostic yield. It also serves as an exciting tool to learn many aspects of basic and advanced MR physics. Artifacts are categorized into patient- and sequence-related artifacts. Various manifestations of motion and vascular artifacts, susceptibility, altered tissue contrast, blurring, chemical shift artifact, volume averaging, and gadolinium (Gd) pseudolayering are explained, along with their proposed remedies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Canada. khashayar.rafatzand@mail.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Khashayar Rafat
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Zand
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reinhold
authors.forename: Masoom A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Haider
authors.forename: Asako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakai
authors.forename: Laurian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rohoman
authors.forename: Sharad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maheshwari
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008220:Lymphography / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009068:Movement; D010388:Pelvis / Q000473:pathology*; D010528:Peristalsis; D012119:Respiration
chemical_list: D005682:Gadolinium