Chapter 20: Non-Radiographic Imaging

This imaging modality relies on the properties of nuclei in matter (usually the hydrogen atom) to visualize soft tissue. By manipulating the magnetic spin of the nuclei, one can obtain information about matter. This process is known as “nuclear magnetic resonance”. Starting in 1977, this technique began to be used to generate images of living tissue. This technique, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), employs a clever method to convert nuclear spin information into an image. Because of the underlying physics, MRI is a sensitive probe of subtle soft tissue contrasts in the patient.