Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

This paper discusses magnetic resonance imaging. It describes why MRI is such an important tool used in diagnostic imaging. It describes how MRI affects atoms in the human body and transmits that to a computer image. This paper concludes that scientists and doctors have come a long way from the discovery of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to the actual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner that we know today. MRI has and will continue to have a positive effect on patient care.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The use of MRI as an “non-invasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions” (“MRI of the Body,” 2011) is invaluable. This research paper will discuss the history and use of MRI, how MRI works, and the use of contrast agents in conjunction with MRI.

Typically “MRI scans have been used to diagnosis, monitor and treat conditions such as tumors of the chest, abdomen or pelvis, certain types of heart problems, blockages or enlargements of vessels, diseases of the liver, gallbladder, intestines, colon, and breast cancer” (“MRI of the Body,” 2011). This is because of the discovery of NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance. In 1946 two scientists made the first successful NMR experiment. “The experiment found that when certain nuclei were placed in a magnetic field they absorbed energy in the radiofrequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and re-emitted this energy when the nuclei transferred to their original state” (“History of MRI”). In 1973 Paul Lauterbur a professor of chemistry described an imaging procedure he named zeugmatography. By joining together a weak gradient magnetic field with a stronger magnetic field and using a back imaging projection, he was able to image 2 test tubes. This brought NMR from a single dimension field into a two dimensional field. This was the foundation for the MRI that we know today.

MRI magnets are some of the most powerful magnets ever...