Diagnostic pitfalls and artifacts in high field magnetic resonance imaging

Similar to all other medical imaging modalities, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has various artifacts. Some artifacts are easily recognizable such as motion, while some are not very obvious and even sometimes mimic pathologic conditions. These artifacts, if not differentiated, could easily become diagnostic pitfalls for radiologists and lead to erroneous conclusions. We have studied some of the imaging artifacts associated with a 1.5 tesla MRI scanner and report some cases who could become potential diagnostic pitfalls. Causes for these artifacts, although some not proven, are also presented.