IMPORTANT: We currently have a number of bugs related to image cropping and are actively trying to resolve them. In the meantime, we have disabled cropping. Apologies for any inconvenience. Stay informed: radiopaedia.org/chat

Fat-water swap artifact

Case contributed by Vikas Shah
Diagnosis not applicable

MRI abdomen

mri

Post-contrast fat-suppressed series of abdominal MRI shows sharply demarcated areas of opposing signal. The left kidney is very low in signal, and the right kidney is high in signal. This is a result of a fat-water swap artifact with the Dixon technique of acquiring images.

Case Discussion

Computational errors in areas of field homogeneity lead to incorrect interpretation of voxel content and a swap of fat and water on suppressed sequences. Large areas in the left side of the abdomen have the water suppressed rather than the fat suppressed. The geographic areas of swap have sharply demarcated borders, as seen here.

How to use cases

You can use Radiopaedia cases in a variety of ways to help you learn and teach.

Creating your own cases is easy.

Updating… Please wait.

 Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.

 Thank you for updating your details.