MRI - possible after resurfacing?

Is an MRI possible after having your hip resurfaced?

 Dr. Edwin Su

"Although it is completely safe to get an MRI of a resurfaced hip, the images may be of poor quality unless special techniques are used.  Since an MRI works by using a magnetic field to align water molecules and produces a picture based upon different water contents of the tissues, the large amount of metal in a hip resurfacing will produce a large artifact (abnormal signal void).  Furthermore, the radiologists need to have experience in looking at the tissues around an artificial joint, or chances are that they will not know what they are looking at.

At HSS, we are in the process of developing new software to suppress the artifact from metal on metal joints; plus the radiologists frequently look at images around artificial joints, so they are very experienced in knowing what to look for.

Regards
Ed"