What Is an MRI?
An MRI can give your doctor a detailed look inside your body.
During a magnetic resonance imaging scan (or MRI), powerful magnets and radio waves are used to create detailed images of your body.
An MRI is used to help detect injuries or abnormalities in many parts of your body.
It’s a noninvasive procedure and does not use X-rays, according to MedlinePlus.
To prepare for an MRI:
The MRI room will likely be cold; this ensures a proper working environment for the machine’s magnets.
During the MRI, you’ll lie completely still on a narrow table inside a large, tunnel-shaped scanner that’s open at both ends.
You’ll be alone while the technician operates the MRI scanner from a nearby room, but you can communicate with one another via a microphone.
You may be given earplugs to cancel out the loud “drumming” noise of the machine.
An MRI scan generally lasts between 20 and 90 minutes, depending on which part of the body is imaged. An MRI of the lumbar spine, for example, typically takes no longer than 30 minutes.
During a scan, the MRI machine’s magnetic field forces the protons in your body’s hydrogen atoms to line up.
Radio waves delivered by the machine knock the protons out of line with each other. When the radio waves are turned off, the protons line back up, sending out radio waves in the process.
These radio waves are picked up by receivers, and processed by a computer to produce images of the body’s tissues.
The images created by MRI can be cross-sectional “slices” or 3D images.
According to Mayo Clinic, your doctor will request an MRI to look for:
A radiologist will review your MRI and report the results to your doctor.
Your doctor will follow up with you and determine what, if any, next steps are needed.
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