MRI Emerges As Vital Resource in Treatment of...( ...),Health

ROSEMONT, Ill., Jan. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a growing technology providing an increasing number of clinical benefits when used in the evaluation of back pain according to an article in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (http://www.jaaos.org/). It is predicted that over the next several years, additional technical developments will allow MRI to provide even more useful orthopaedic benefits.

Co-author Victor M. Haughton, MD, department of radiology, University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, says, "Because of the many different ways to gather this important information, MRI can be used to identify or display almost every type of spinal tissue or pathology. The imaging sequence can be modified to meet many different clinical needs." Those include:

• Back pain
• Infection
• Tumor
• Trauma and vascular disease

Researchers continue to find new ways to apply technologies that were previously used exclusively on other areas of the body. MRI which is considered safe, fast and versatile is now being used in several spinal applications such as:

• intervertebral disk and facet joint degeneration
• spinal canal stenosis (http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00329)
• vascular disorders
• trauma

MRI scans are produced by stimulating the protons in tissues and liquids (such as fat, muscle, spinal cord, and fluid in the spine) using radiofrequency waves in the presence of a magnetic field. MRI detects the amount of energy emitted from these protons. This techno
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