MRI Techniques

The most essential in MRI techniques is the use of a dedicated wrist coil in order to realise an optimal image resolution. The wrist should be as much as possible in the centre of the gantry. Therefore, the patient is positioned in the “superman position” and immobilised with pillows in a 30° right or left oblique anterior position depending on the wrist to be examined. The coronal slices are parallel to the dorsal side of the wrist. A first general approach needs coronal plain T1- and T2-weighted sequences. At least one sequence should be isotropic with a reconstruction of images in the three orthogonal dimensions. Supplementary mobility images in pro- and supination may be added to evaluate the ulnar head position at the DRUJ. A series of short 2D GRE sequences without wrist coil in five different positions from radial to ulnar deviation may be added as well and/or eventually correlated with classical motion X-rays.