Assessment of magnetic field interactions and radiofrequency‐radiation‐induced heating of metallic spinal implants in 7 T field

The safety of metallic spinal implants in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed using ultrahigh fields has not been established. Hence, we examined whether the displacement forces caused by a static magnetic field and the heating induced by radiofrequency radiation are substantial for spinal implants in a 7 T field. We investigated spinal rods of various lengths and materials, a screw, and a cross‐linking bridge in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials guidelines. The displacement forces of the metallic implants in static 7 T and 3 T static magnetic fields were measured and compared. The temperature changes of the implants during 15‐min‐long fast spin‐echo and balanced gradient‐echo image acquisition sequences were measured in the 7 T field. The deflection angles of the metallic spinal materials in the 7 T field were 5.0–21.0° [median: 6.7°], significantly larger than those in the 3 T field (1.0–6.3° [2.2°]). Among the metallic rods, the cobalt–chrome rods had significantly larger deflection angles (17.8–21.0° [19.8°]) than the pure titanium and titanium alloy rods (5.0–7.7° [6.2°]). The temperature changes of the implants, including the cross‐linked rods, were 0.7–1.0°C [0.8°C] and 0.6–1.0°C [0.7°C] during the fast spin‐echo and balanced gradient‐echo sequences, respectively; these changes were slightly larger than those of the controls (0.4–1.1°C [0.5°C] and 0.3–0.9°C [0.6°C], respectively). All of the metallic spinal implants exhibited small displacement forces and minimal heating, indicating that MRI examinations using 7 T fields may be performed safely on patients with these implants. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Orthopaedic Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Orthopaedic Research Society. J Orthop Res 35:1831–1837, 2017.