Dedicated extremity MR imaging of the foot and ankle

The purpose of this review is to provide illustrative examples of diseases of the foot and ankle when imaged with a low-field MR imaging system. A ret rospective review of 268 foot and ankle examinations, performed in our inst itution within the past 3 years with a 0.2-T (Artoscan Esaote, Genoa, Italy ) dedicated extremity MR system was done. Additionally, illustrative compar ison with conventional radiography and high-field MR imaging is presented i n patients in whom these examinations were also performed. Although motion artifact limited the value of a few studies, in the majority of examination s low-field MR imaging provided diagnostic image quality for the full spect rum of disorders affecting the foot and ankle and seemed to be a feasible a lternative to high-field MR imaging in establishing an accurate diagnosis.