Wrist and elbow MR imaging technology is advancing at a dramatic rate. Wrist and
elbow MR imaging is performed at medium and higher field strengths with more
specialized surface coils and more variable pulse sequences and postprocessing
techniques. High field imaging and improved coils lead to an increased signal-tonoise
ratio and increased variety of soft tissue contrast options. Three-dimensional
imaging is improving in terms of usability and artifacts. Some of these advances
have challenges in wrist and elbow imaging, such as postoperative patient imaging,
cartilage mapping, and molecular imaging. This review considers technical advances
in hardware and software and their clinical applications.