Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital offers the state-of-the-art imaging service of magnetic resonance imaging (commonly known as MRI). MRI provides detailed images of soft tissue anatomy in the body and is extremely sensitive to detecting many kinds of soft tissue diseases and injuries. MRI is important in diagnosing and staging cancer as well as evaluating response to treatment. MRI is also extensively used for diagnosing and treating disorders of the brain, spine and muscle and joint disorders.
All MRI studies are performed by certified MRI technologists, read by board certified veterinary radiologists and monitored by trained veterinary anesthesia technicians while being scanned. All animals are anesthetized to keep them from moving during the scan.
MRI is a unique technology that creates images based on a very strong magnetic field. The patient is placed within the gantry or bore of the magnet during imaging. Radio frequency waves are pulsed through the patient, and the tissues in turn give off tiny signals detected by the MRI. The loud noise made by the MRI is from pulsating RF waves. The scan room is isolated and protected from the environment by special metal shielding in the walls of the room that prevents stray radio waves from interfering with the tiny signals coming from the patient. The MRI’s magnetic field is created by an intense electromagnetic current 15,000 times stronger than that of the earth’s. The strong electromagnetic current must be specially cooled with liquid helium and chilled water, which circulate in a special cooling jacket around the gantry. There are no Xrays involved with MRI. All images are created with the use of the magnetic field.

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