T2-weighted imaging
| Magnetic resonance imaging | |
|---|---|
| Medical diagnostics | |
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Para-sagittal MRI of the head, with aliasing artifacts (nose and forehead appear at the back of the head)
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| Synonyms | nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) |
| ICD-9-CM | 88.91 |
| MeSH | D008279 |
| MedlinePlus | 003335 |
Magnetic resonance imaging is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body in both health and disease. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, electric field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body. MRI does not involve X-rays and the use of ionizing radiation, which distinguishes it from CT or CAT scans. Magnetic resonance imaging is a medical application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR can also be used for imaging in other NMR applications such as NMR spectroscopy.
While the hazards of X-rays are now well-controlled in most medical contexts, MRI may still be seen as a better choice than CT. MRI is widely used in hospitals and clinics for medical diagnosis, staging of disease and follow-up without exposing the body to radiation. However, MRI may often yield different diagnostic information compared with CT. There may be risks and discomfort associated with MRI scans. Compared with CT scans, MRI scans typically take longer and are louder, and they usually need the subject to enter a narrow, confining tube. In addition, people with some medical implants or other non-removable metal inside the body may be unable to undergo an MRI examination safely.
MRI was originally called 'NMRI' (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) and is a form of NMR, though the use of 'nuclear' in the acronym was dropped to avoid negative associations with the word. Certain atomic nuclei are able to absorb and emit radio frequency energy when placed in an external magnetic field. In clinical and research MRI, hydrogen atoms are most often used to generate a detectable radio-frequency signal that is received by antennas in close proximity to the anatomy being examined. Hydrogen atoms are naturally abundant in people and other biological organisms, particularly in water and fat. For this reason, most MRI scans essentially map the location of water and fat in the body. Pulses of radio waves excite the nuclear spin energy transition, and magnetic field gradients localize the signal in space. By varying the parameters of the pulse sequence, different contrasts may be generated between tissues based on the relaxation properties of the hydrogen atoms therein.
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