Advantages Of An MRI And When To Use It

MRI imaging, or alternatively known as magnetic resonance imaging, has been used for years as an invaluable tool in the same league as x-ray imaging. However, unlike x-ray imaging, MRI imaging does not require the use of radiation. Its use for examination of an individual’s health and possible diseases are hard to challenge.

How Does An MRI Work?

An MRI uses a combination of magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients and radio waves to take snapshots of your organs, like generic photos you see of brains were done with an MRI. And it has been doing so since July 3rd, 1977, when its first successful scan took place.

Advantages Of An MRI

Like mentioned before, MRI does not need to employ the use exposing an individual to radiation for its diagnostic imaging. This is especially helpful for women that are pregnant or individuals with babies or children that need a scan.

Also mentioned before, your organs like your brain, eyes and heart, as well as ligaments, cartilage and soft tissues can easily be viewed with the use of an MRI. And since several of those mentioned areas include blood vessels, MRI can even view your blood circulation and pick out if there are any blockages, perhaps preparing you for heart surgery. Not to mention these areas can also be inflamed and swell, another symptom an MRI can detect.

When Would An MRI Be Used?

Any bone fractures captured on an MRI medical scan is going to show as black. However, if an individual falls, like two million elderly citizens do every year, it can detect any damage to cartilage.

An MRI can tell a lot about an individual’s heart, which can be incredibly useful for mitigating or catching any issues an individual might experience considering 610,000 people die every year in America due to heart disease.

MRI imaging is especially helpful when a woman is faced with the chance of breast cancer. While it is true that many breast cancer survivors are still walking the street as of January 1, 2016, about 3,560,570, it does not change the unfortunate statistic that women, as a whole, face the 12.4 percent chance of a diagnosis. MRI is typically the avenue taken to understand the extent of an individual’s breast cancer, as well as individuals with a higher risk of breast cancer, and plan our breast cancer treatment.