Portal:Medicine/Selected article/42, 2007

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), formerly referred to as magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) and, in scientific circles and as originally marketed by companies such as General Electric, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI) or NMR zeugmatography imaging, is a non-invasive method used to render images of the inside of an object. It is primarily used in medical imaging to demonstrate pathological or other physiological alterations of living tissues. MRI also has uses outside of the medical field, such as detecting rock permeability to hydrocarbons and as a non-destructive testing method to characterize the quality of products such as produce and timber.

MRI should not be confused with the NMR spectroscopy technique used in chemistry, although both are based on the same principles of nuclear magnetic resonance. In fact MRI is NMR applied to the signal from water to acquire spatial information in place of chemical information about molecules. The same equipment can be used for both imaging and spectroscopy.

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