MRI Images

nkay1985

Hi,

I'd just like to state that I am in no way looking for medical advice, I'm just interested.

I had an MRI of my wrist today and was given a cd to give to my consultant. Being a curious sort, I took a look to see what kind of images come from an MRI.

There appears to be 7 series of images which contain a varying number of individual images. They're labelled with a Series Description such as 'Small loc', 'Ax T2 TSE', 'Cor T2 FS (sat sup x2)' etc. I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me what I'm looking at in each instance. I've done a small bit of Googling around the subject but everything I land on is very heavy on medical language.

So I'd be very grateful if someone could sate my curiousity on the subject and explain what images result from an MRI to me and which would be used for bone problems, muscle problems or whatever.

Thanks.

GradMed

My limited understanding of MRI is that a person is placed in a magnet and you become magnetized for a short amount of time. This is due to hydrogen ions, found in water, which align themselves to the magnetic field.
In this state the body responds to radiowaves. These radiowaves change the alignment of the hydrogen ions. When the radiowaves stop the hydrogen ions relax back to the original alignment and this generates a signal called a spin echo. From this spin echo the MRI image is generated.

Ax may stand for axial view. This is a horizontal slice though the body, like you're looking at the body from below.
Cor may also mean coronal, this is a vertical slice though the body, like you're looking at the body from the front. The link below may help to orientate you.
http://www.med.wayne.edu/diagradiology/anatomy_modules/brain/brain.html

T2 most likely refers to a T2 weighted scan. In these scans water and fresh blood will appear brighter compared to blood in vessels and bone.

TSE is turbo spin echo, this is a method which reduces the time it takes to perform the MRI.

FS could be fast spin echo, again I think this reduces the time it takes to perform the MRI.

Not sure about "small loc" or "sat sup x2"

So AX T2 TSE may be an axial (looking from below) T2 weighted scan (bone looks darker and fresh blood and water brighter) Turbo Spin Echo (just the method used to perform the scan)

COR T2 FS may be a coronal (looking from the front) T2 weighted scan (bone looks darker and fresh blood and water brighter) Fast Spin (just the method used to perform the scan)

Hope that's of some help.

nkay1985

That's of great help thanks. I'll match up those descriptions with some of the images and see if they make sense in that context.

_AVALANCHE_

GradMed wrote: »

My limited understanding of MRI

:pac:

opinion guy

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

:pac:

Am I missing something here ?

_AVALANCHE_

opinion guy wrote: »

Am I missing something here ?

Nothing limited about it.

10/10 reply.