Magnetic resonance imaging

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), is primarily a medical imaging technique most commonly used in radiology to visualize the internal structure and function of the body. MRI provides much greater contrast between the different soft tissues of the body than computed tomography (CT) does, making it especially useful in neurological (brain), musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and oncological (cancer) imaging. Unlike CT, it uses no ionizing radiation, but uses a powerful magnetic field to align the nuclear magnetization of (usually) hydrogen atoms in water in the body. Radio frequency (RF) fields are used to systematically alter the alignment of this magnetization, causing the hydrogen nuclei to produce a rotating magnetic field detectable by the scanner. This signal can be manipulated by additional magnetic fields to build up enough information to construct an image of the body.:36

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a relatively new technology. The first MR image was published in 1973 and the first cross-sectional image of a living mouse was published in January 1974. The first studies performed on humans were published in 1977. By comparison, the first human X-ray image was taken in 1895.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging was developed from knowledge gained in the study of nuclear magnetic resonance. In its early years the technique was referred to as nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI). However, as the word nuclear was associated in the public mind with ionizing radiation exposure it is generally now referred to simply as MRI. Scientists still use the term NMRI when discussing non-medical devices operating on the same principles. The term Magnetic Resonance Tomography (MRT) is also sometimes used.

For more information about Magnetic resonance imaging, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with mri

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New imaging technique reveals different heart motions by age, gender

Medicine & Health / Research

created 15 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Using a new noninvasive imaging technique, scientists said they have discovered important, fundamental differences in heart motion by age and gender.


Dutch PhD student develops device to combat noise

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (16) | comments 17

Johan Wesselink of the University of Twente, The Netherlands, has developed a device to actively combat noise nuisance. This invention curtails sound waves and vibrations by producing anti-noise. The researcher is confident ...


Analyzing structural brain changes in Alzheimer's disease

Analyzing structural brain changes in Alzheimer's disease

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, ...


Study uses brain scans to discover how children 'read' faces

Study uses brain scans to discover how children 'read' faces

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford University scientists are using brain-scanning technology to understand how we learn to recognise and 'read' faces as children.


Scans show learning 'sculpts' the brain's connections

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 09, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Spontaneous brain activity formerly thought to be "white noise" measurably changes after a person learns a new task, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Chieti, Italy, ...


Modern human brain

Colombian guerrillas help scientists locate literacy in the brain

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0

A unique study of former guerrillas in Colombia has helped scientists redefine their understanding of the key regions of the brain involved in literacy. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Spanish ...


1 conjoined twin talking after separation surgery (AP)

1 conjoined twin talking after separation surgery

Medicine & Health / Other

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- A Bangladeshi toddler separated this week from her conjoined twin sister was talking and behaving normally Thursday after waking from a medically induced coma, the head of the surgery team said.


IBM Cantilever end with virus sample

Researchers Create Microscope With 100 Million Times Finer Resolution Than Current MRI

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Jan 13, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (24) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- IBM Research scientists, in collaboration with the Center for Probing the Nanoscale at Stanford University, have demonstrated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volume resolution 100 million ...


When it comes to intelligence, size matters

When it comes to intelligence, size matters

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 25, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1

A collaborative study led by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University has demonstrated a positive link between cognitive ability and cortical thickness in the brains of healthy ...


Conficker worm hits hospital devices

Technology / Software

created Apr 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 10

A computer worm that has alarmed security experts around the world has crawled into hundreds of medical devices at dozens of hospitals in the United States and other countries, according to technologists monitoring the threat.


EKG can show false positive readings for diagnosing heart condition

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The electrical measurements on the electrocardiogram can often mislead physicians in diagnosing the heart condition left ventricular hypertrophy, causing other screening tests to be ordered before a definitive conclusion ...


Wireless Microgrippers Grab Living Cells in 'Biopsy' Tests

Wireless Microgrippers Grab Living Cells in 'Biopsy' Tests

Chemistry /

created Jan 12, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- In experiments that pave the way for tiny mobile surgical tools activated by heat or chemicals, Johns Hopkins researchers have invented dust-particle-size devices that can be used to grab ...


Nanomagnets guide stem cells to damaged tissue

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Aug 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Microscopic magnetic particles have been used to bring stem cells to sites of cardiovascular injury in a new method designed to increase the capacity of cells to repair damaged tissue, UCL scientists announced today.


Magnetic Resonance Now Also Comes In Tiny Quantities

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It is now possible to analyse very small samples using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Thanks to a specially constructed detector, a 'stripline', greater sensitivity can be achieved while maintaining the same ...


Formerly conjoined twins to need years of care (AP)

Formerly conjoined twins to need years of care

Medicine & Health / Other

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins separated this week in a marathon surgery will remain in the care of a humanitarian group for at least two years, the organization's CEO said Friday.