NMR imaging of the abdomen at 0.12 T: initial clinical experience with a resistive magnet.

Forty-five patients with a variety of abdominal abnormalities and five normal volunteers were imaged on a 0.12 T resistive nuclear magnetic resonance system. Scans were obtained with saturation-recovery technique and short repetition times. The images reflected both proton density and T1 information. A variety of neoplastic and nonneoplastic disease processes involving the abdomen were imaged. Results suggest that clinically useful images clearly may be obtained at 0.12 T. In addition, saturation-recovery imaging with short repetition rates can detect a wide range of abdominal abnormalities.