The Utility of Metal Artifact Reduction Techniques in the Postoperative Assessment of a Novel Tantalum Intervertebral Spacer Device on 3 T Magnetic Resonance Imaging:

A key clinical concern in the use of spine fusion devices is the ability to utilize conventional imaging techniques to assess local bone and soft tissue structures. This is important to establish fusion and also investigate potential compression of nerve roots within the canal and the neural foramina. Three tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides signif-icant benefits for orthopedic imaging: an increase in signal-to-noise ratio and less prominent effects of B1 inhomogeneity, resulting in clearly improved image quality and/or faster scan times. However, higher magnetic field strengths produce larger susceptibility artifacts. As such, in the presence of metallic implants, adjacent structures may not be assessable. Artifact due to metal devices is dependent on the size and com-position of the implants [1–3]. Direct comparisons of titanium and porous tantalum (Ta) implants have suggested that Ta produce