The disadvantages of titanium implants are hypersensitive reactions such as bone loss, necrosis, pain, swelling, urticaria, erythema, injury to the nerves and blood vessels.
And it is possible for titanium implants to slowly wear out and corrode, leading to titanium alloy particles to be deposited to the rest of the body.
While this is rare, it could potentially lead to health issues such as yellow nail syndrome.
The signs and symptoms of your body rejecting titanium implants are pain, inflammation, chills, fever, hives, edema, reddening, itching of the ski, mucosa and eczema.
Bacteria can grow on titanium as titanium is not antibacterial or have antibacterial properties.
Bacteria can grow, gather and adhere to the surface of titanium implants which can lead to infection and is among the main reasons for titanium implant failure.
Titanium implants most often last a lifetime and don't need to be replaced.
However in some cases the titanium implant may need to be replaced after 20 years.
Titanium implants can be removed or they can stay in the body.
After a while, titanium integrates seamlessly with the bone, so, strictly speaking, it is not necessary to remove the fixation plates, unless the patient's body has any kind of negative reaction.
Titanium rods last in the body for 20 years or sometimes longer.
Some people have titanium rods in their body for the rest of their lives and some people have them removed if they are no longer needed.
You can have an MRI with titanium i your body as titanium is not affected by the magnetic field of the MRI.
Titanium is a paramagnetic material that is not affected by the magnetic field of MRI.
The implants that are not safe for MRI include.
Cochlear (ear) implant or hearing aides.
Brain aneurysm clips.
Metal coils/stents placed inside blood vessels.
Neurostimulators or implanted programmable devices.
Cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers.
Because MRI devices use strong magnets, metal implants pose the specific risk of potential migration of implants and radiofrequency (RF)-induced heating of the implants, which may cause damage to the surrounding tissue.
A CT scan is usually more detailed than an MRI although MRI scans are better at contrast resolution and CT scans are better at spatial resolution.
CT scans are better than ultrasounds as they can detect more conditions such as certain types of cancer tumors and finding various abnormalities within the body.
CT scans can also be used with other screening methods such as MRI's in order to further enhance the accuracy and definition.
Ultrasounds are also often used to image the muscles, tendons, internal organs etc.
An MRI does show nerve damage as an MRI is a very commonly used method detect and show the peripheral nerves.