Knee and shoulder MRI exams are the most commonly requested musculoskeletal MRI scans. Other MR imaging of the extremities includes hips, ankles, elbows, and wrists. Orthopedic imaging requires very high spatial resolution for reliable small structure definition and therefore places extremely high demands on SNR.
Exact presentation of joint pathology expects robust and reliable fat suppression, often under difficult conditions like off-center FOV, imaging at the edge of the field homogeneity or in regions with complex magnetic susceptibility.
MR examinations can evaluate meniscal dislocations, muscle fiber tears, tendon disruptions, tendinitis, and diagnose bone tumors and soft tissue masses. MR can also demonstrate acute fractures that are radiographically impossible to see. Evaluation of articular cartilage for traumatic injury or assessment of degenerative disease represents an imaging challenge, which can be overcome by high field MRI applications. Currently, fat-suppressed 3D spoiled gradient echo sequences and density weighted fast spin echo sequences are the gold-standard techniques used to assess articular cartilage.
Open MRI procedures allow the kinematic imaging of joints, which provides added value to any musculoskeletal MRI practice. This technique demonstrates the actual functional impingements or positional subluxations of joints. In knee MRI examinations, the kinematical patellar study can show patellofemoral joint abnormalities.

See also Open MRI, Knee MRI, Low Field MRI.