MRI scanning represents the gold standard for joint study. As the quality of MRI technology has improved, now we have more powerful and ergonomic equipments. The power of a magnetic resonance system is expressed in Tesla, in memory of the great inventor Nikolai Tesla, the father of electromagnetism. Today the Mri systems available for diagnostic purposes ranging from a minimum of 0.25 even up to 3 or 7 Tesla. But if it is true that, with regard to the study of the brain and spinal cord is preferable to use machines for at least 1.5 Tesla, the same thing can not be said for joints examination, which now can be evaluated using dedicated equipments that have nothing to envy to high fields Mri systems.

Same patient scanned with dedicated 0,3 T Mri equipment (A-C) and with 1.5 T high field Mri scan

Morover, never forget that still now a large number of patients having a scan in a small ‘tube’, feel a disorientating and panic-inducing experience. So, why require an “high field” Mri scan to study a knee, taking away time and space to examination for which the use of a system of 1.5 Tesla is critical – heart, abdomen and the already mentioned brain and spinal cord, for example – when using dedicated equipment you can achieve the same effect?

Standard quality of a dedicated Mri scan (0.3 Tesla)

Femoro-patellar cartilage study: comparison between arthro Tc and 0.3 Tesla Mri scan of the same patient.