Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Definition

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the newest, and perhaps most versatile, medical imaging technology available. Doctors can get highly refined images of the body's interior without surgery, using MRI. By using strong magnets and pulses of radio waves to manipulate the natural magnetic properties in the body, this technique makes better images of organs and soft tissues than those of other scanning technologies. MRI is particularly useful for imaging the brain and spine, as well as the soft tissues of joints and the interior structure of bones. The entire body is visible to the technique, which poses few known health risks.

Purpose

MRI was developed in the 1980s. The latest additions to MRI technology are angiography (MRA) and spectroscopy (MRS). MRA was developed to study blood flow, while MRS can identify the chemical composition...