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.

Living Large: Hitachi Gets Go-Ahead for 74-cm Open-Bore MR

Hitachi Medical Systems today received FDA clearance to market its Echelon Oval Ultra-Wide MR system, which boasts the widest design of any MR unit on the market.

MRI the Fastest Growing Segment of the Global Imaging Market

Reportlinker.com has released a new report, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Systems: Global Market Outlook 2012-2022, that finds that MRI represents the fastest growing segment of the global medical imaging market.

Completing the MRI Portfolio: Summa Health System

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

Summa Health System (Akron, Ohio), one of the largest health-care networks in the state, was facing a difficulty common to organizations that provide imaging for bariatric patients: the 0.3T open MRI system at its Summa Health Center at White Pond, to which many of these patients had to be referred, was too low in field strength for certain types

Additional MR Techniques Improve Detection of Pulmonary Embolism

According a study published in the March issue of the journal Radiology, radiologists now have a comparable, non-ionizing option to CT for the detection of pulmonary embolism.

MRI Atlas of the Brain? Yeah, There's an App for That

Medical publisher Elsevier is getting into the iPad game with a new application it says is the first of its kind to bridge the neuroscience digital learning worlds.

EMR Use Up Among Radiation Therapy Sites, External-Beam Tech Still a Growth Market, Says IMV

In just four years, the implementation of information systems among radiation therapy sites as an integrated component of oncology treatment has climbed from 50% to two-thirds, according to new research from IMV Medical Information Division.

Optimizing the MRI Portfolio for Patient-centered Care: Lee Memorial Health System

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

Lee Memorial Health System (LMHS), Fort Myers, Florida, offers a wide range of imaging services at its four acute-care campuses and three outpatient imaging centers, including a host of high-field MRI systems. As Mark Williams, director of outpatient imaging, recalls, however, something was missing. “When we looked at our business model, we saw

MRI Global Market Expected to Grow

New applications and an aging population mean the global MRI market is expected to grow from $4 billion in 2011 to $4.76 billion in 2016, according to a new report by Research and Markets.

Around the web

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.

The all-in-one Omni Legend PET/CT scanner is now being manufactured in a new production facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin.