Abstract
PURPOSE
To describe fat-suppression failure artifacts and to caution against their misinterpretation.
METHOD
Magnetic-susceptibility artifacts were studied in a phantom model and the results were compared to MR images obtained in clinical cases.
FINDINGS
Artifacts manifested themselves as regions of focal fat-suppression failure and appeared as bright signals without geometric distortions at magnetic-susceptibility interfaces along the static field (z) direction. The location and extent of these artifacts were independent of either frequency or phase-encoding direction and are different from those observed in gradient-echo images.
CONCLUSIONS
In representative clinical MR exams, these artifacts were identified in the high nasopharynx and low orbit and should not be misinterpreted as pathology.
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