During a traditional MRI, you are positioned on a table that moves back and forth inside a big tube. In some cases, your radiologist will need to inject a small amount of harmless dye (called contrast) to make sure parts of your body show up more clearly on the images.
The MRI scanner creates a strong magnetic field around you and directs radio waves at your body. The machine makes tapping and thumping noises, but you will not feel any pain. The technologist can give you headphones with music so you don’t hear the noises, or you can bring your own music on a device.
If you’re uncomfortable being in a small, enclosed space or are very overweight, you may prefer an open MRI, which has a larger opening than a traditional MRI machine. Talk to your doctor about this preference.
MRI Services
You may need a specific kind of MRI to diagnose certain health conditions. MRI types include:
- Breast MRI: Helps detect tumors at an earlier stage than traditional mammography. If you’ve had positive mammogram results in the past, your doctor may recommend breast MRI instead of a screening mammogram.
- Heart MRI: Creates detailed pictures of your heart and the tissue around it to diagnose conditions such as tumors, infection and damage caused by a heart attack [Link to Page ID 2.2.99: Conditions < Heart Attack].
- Musculoskeletal MRI: Captures detailed pictures of bone fractures and joints to help your doctor plan surgery or other treatment for fractures.
- Functional MRI: Looks at blood flow in the brain to detect damage from stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and tumors.
- Surgical MRI: An intraoperative (during an operation) procedure to remove brain tumors. The MRI component allows your surgeon to observe the progress of surgery in real time and reduces the need for additional operations.