Chapter 148

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Diane Bergin

Diane Bergin

University Hospital Galway, Galway, Ireland

Search for more papers by this author
Donald G. Mitchell

Donald G. Mitchell

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 27 November 2015

Summary

This chapter explains some of the tissue characteristics and basic principles of imaging and discusses specific applications and techniques in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A magnetic resonance technique that simulates magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) but which differs in principle is magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP). The goal of MRCP is to selectively image fluid within the biliary tree and pancreatic duct. Various comparisons of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and MRI have shown that MRI has significantly better capacity to characterize liver lesions. MRI of the pancreas is optimally performed with a high-performance gradient system (1.5 T) using phased-array torso coil to improve the signal-to-noise ratio with a smaller field of view and thin-slice profile. Magnetic resonance sequences used to evaluate the gallbladder are similar to other imaging protocols used in the abdomen, including axial T1-weighted breath-hold gradient echo (GRE) chemical shift sequences, T2-weighted sequences, MRCP, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.