Medical applications of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.

In the very short time since magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was born it has gained surprisingly rapid and enthusiastic acceptance and has speedily proliferated, particularly in the United States and Western Europe. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has successfully challenged computed tomography (CT) in all areas of the body where respiratory motion does not degrade the image (Steinberg, 1986). Newer techniques using a multiplicity of approaches are starting to close the gap between CT and MRI, even in the upper abdomen where the effects of respiratory motion are most pronounced. Although MR is already widely clinically applied and is an accepted everyday diagnostic modality in most large medical centres in the United States, it is not a mature modality. It is rapidly evolving, with whole new areas opening to investigation which will vastly broaden its applications.