Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) induced 'hypoxia artifacts' on pulse oximetry: how reliable are MRI compatible monitoring devices?

Distinguishing a monitoring artifact requires expertise and adeptness. This can be practically challenging during the course of an anesthetic. We report a case, wherein we experienced episodes of aberrant pulse-oximeter values suggestive of desaturation with normal waveforms, occurring during a particular sequence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed under general anesthesia, which in fact was an artifact induced by the 3 T MRI during the diffusion tensor imaging sequence.