Clinical MR Imaging: A Practical Approach

In 15 years MRI has evolved into an essential modality, developing from being a preferred neuroimaging method to becoming a whole-body, comprehensive imaging approach. For this, various coils, pulse sequences, and contrast media have been developed. The complexity of the factors to consider often represents an obstacle not only to beginners but also to more experienced technicians and physicians. Since routine diagnostic questions represent more than 90% of clinical examinations, the intention of the editors and authors was to provide an understandable book for this purpose. The book gives practical information about performing effective and efficient MR examinations in daily practice. Solving clinical questions with new sequences should no longer be difficult for beginners in the field.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has become the leading cross-sectional imaging method in clinical practice. Since the 1980s, continuous improvements in hardware and software have significantly broadened the scope of applications. At present, MR imaging is not only the most important technique in neuroradiology and osteoarticular radiology, but has also become an invaluable diagnostic tool for abdominal, pelvic, cardiac, breast and vascular system imaging. Due to ongoing technical developments, the complexity of MR imaging has increased markedly. This often represents an obstacle not only to beginners (who find it difficult to get started), but also to more experienced users (who find it hard to keep up). Information about MR imaging can be found in many excellent textbooks and reference works, several of which have become encyclopedic in scope and sheer volume. As editors and authors of this book, we have endeavored to use a different approach. As a starting point, we have taken into consideration that routine diagnostic questions account for more than 90% of examinations. This implies that by adopting a practical protocol-based approach the workflow in an MR unit can be streamlined, so important in today's economic environment. We have aimed to provide the reader with such information, based on our combined experience. This book offers practical guidelines for performing efficient and cost-effective MR imaging examinations in daily practice. As editors, we hope that this work will lead to a better practical understanding of MR imaging and that new sequences and protocols will contribute to solving clinical problems. As such, we believe this book will help beginners to advance their starting point in implementing the protocols and will aid more experienced users in updating their knowledge.