Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard imaging modality for soft tissues. It produces detail cross-sectional images of soft tissue and bone anatomy, including muscles, tendons, ligaments, brain and organs, without the use of ionizing radiation. In addition to orthopedic imaging, MRI is also used for heart, brain and breast. MRI uses gadolinium contrast in many exams to highlight tissues and blood vessels, which enhances images and offers better diagnostic quality. It can also be used in conjunction with PET scans. How does MRI work? MR creates images by using powerful magnets to polarize hydrogen atoms in water (the body is made of of more than 80% water) so they face in one direction. A radiofrequency pulse is then used to ping these atoms, causing them to wobble, or resonate. The MRI coils detect this and computers can assemble images from the signals. Basic MRI scans will focus on the resonance of fat and water in two different sequences, which highlight and contrast different features in the anatomy.

Software Allows Virtual PET/MRI Fusion

Sponsored by FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas

It was a difficult, but not uncommon, neuroradiology case: A patient suffered seizures, but had, a year before, been cleared of the possibility of epilepsy by a radiologist looking at an MRI study of the patient’s brain. The persistence of the symptoms suggested that the initial diagnosis had been incorrect, so Meng Law, MD, professor of radiology

Opening Minds to Open MRI

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

How do you acquire the high–field-strength open MRI unit of your dreams in a tough economy? Unless you had already budgeted a cool million before the economy tanked, it may be difficult. David Nelson, director of outpatient imaging for BayCare Health System, Clearwater, Fla, overcame his lack of comfort with open systems last year and did just that

How I Do It: Using 3D MRI to Identify High-risk Vascular Disease

Stroke and heart attack are major killers, not only in the Western world but, increasingly, throughout the developing industrial nations. The cost of these diseases is counted not only in lives lost, but in the health care costs incurred by those patients suffering the chronic manifestations of stroke and cardiac failure. While the acute and more

ACR Unveils a Modular MRI Accreditation Process

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

The ACR is set to launch a new modular MRI accreditation program designed to meet the specific practice patterns of individual facilities. Sometime this month, the current general MRI accreditation program will transition to the new program—which includes brain, spine, musculoskeletal, body, MR angiography, and cardiac modules—opening the door to

Coronary MR Angiography: Can It Compete With Multidetector CT?

Just five years ago, the thought of cardiac cross-sectional imaging turned immediately toward the potential of MRI for evaluation of the heart. Equipment manufacturers provided new MRI scanners with fast gradients for this purpose and developed new pulse sequences. Advanced 3D workstations provided new software for analysis of cardiac function, and

Look, No Hands: Reports Go Directly to Referrer EMRs

John Griffith, CIO of Epic Imaging, Portland, Ore, says, “They asked us for it, and we had to come up with a solution.” The radiology practice provides imaging for close to 2,000 physician referrers; what they wanted was electronically delivered radiology reports sent to their practices not via fax, nor even over the Web, where they had to reside

MRI Accreditation Checklist: Prepare for Success

United Healthcare’s decision to require MRI accreditation after March 1, 2008, initiated a trend among payers that is likely to gain steam. It has also sent hospitals and freestanding imaging centers scrambling to secure MRI accreditation from the American College of Radiology, which has accredited over to 5,000 MRI units since beginning its MRI

Maximize MR Throughput with Efficient Scheduling

As little as one extra MRI per day can generate more than an additional $200,000 in incremental revenue annually. But most imaging centers use crude scheduling systems that do not accurately present a center’s potential throughput. David A. Dierolf, director of performance improvement, Outpatient Imaging Affiliates (OIA), Nashville, Tenn, outlined