What Is an MRI Scan?

You had a com­put­ed tomog­ra­phy (CT) scan. Your provider found some­thing abnor­mal and they want­ed a lit­tle more infor­ma­tion, so they ordered an MRI.

Mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing or MRI is an imag­ing test. Many peo­ple have heard of them but aren’t ful­ly aware of their pur­pose or what to expect if they need one.

Here’s a sim­ple guide to MRIs, cov­er­ing infor­ma­tion from why you might need one to what hap­pens dur­ing the test to when you will get your results. 

MRI: Key Facts at a Glance 

• MRI vs. CT: MRI uses mag­nets and radio waves (no radi­a­tion expo­sure) while CT scans use X‑rays and involve small radi­a­tion exposure.
• Tim­ing: MRIs typ­i­cal­ly take 30 – 60 min­utes, while CT scans are much quick­er (under a minute).
• Best Uses: MRIs offer clear­er images of soft tis­sues, joints, the brain, and the spine. CT scans are often bet­ter for bones, lungs, and detect­ing tumors.
• Com­fort Options: Duly offers closed, open, and wide-bore MRIs to sup­port patients who are claus­tro­pho­bic or have high­er body weight.
• Quick Results: Most MRI results from Duly Health and Care are avail­able with­in 24 to 48 hours.

What Is an MRI Scan?

An MRI is a non-inva­sive test that uses a large mag­net, radio waves, and a com­put­er to cre­ate clear images of struc­tures and organs in your body. Your provider can use the results of an MRI to help diag­nose a med­ical con­di­tion or mon­i­tor how a con­di­tion is respond­ing to treatment. 

Dur­ing an MRI, a spe­cial scan­ner cre­ates a strong mag­net­ic field around you and in your body. The scan­ner sends and receives radiowaves. A com­put­er uses sig­nals from the trans­mit­ter to recon­struct dig­i­tal images of the part of your body that’s being scanned. The test usu­al­ly takes about 30 to 60 min­utes, and you will need to stay still the whole time. 

What are the Dif­fer­ent Types of MRIs?

The two main types of MRI are closed- and open-bore. Most MRI scan­ners are closed. You lay on a move­able table that slides into the open­ing of a long nar­row tube, which enclos­es you and has open­ings on each end. There are new­er ver­sions called open MRIs, in which you are not enclosed in a tube. Open ones are great if you are claus­tro­pho­bic (scared of small spaces), but the images aren’t always clear as the ones from closed MRIs. 

There are also wide-bore MRIs, which are a sort of hap­py medi­um between open and closed. They are tech­ni­cal­ly closed, but they have wider open­ings that give you more space and head­room. They can be much more com­fort­able if you’re claus­tro­pho­bic, but they still pro­vide sim­i­lar lev­el of qual­i­ty of images as closed MRIs. 

In addi­tion, wide-bore MRIs pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for more patients to get MRIs. Tra­di­tion­al machines can hold patients who are 400 pounds or less, but wide-bore ones can hold patients who weigh 500+ pounds. 

Also read: 4 Ben­e­fits of Wide Bore MRI Systems

What Can MRIs Show?

Since MRIs can cre­ate images of almost every struc­ture of your body – includ­ing bones, organs, blood ves­sels, and mus­cles – they are used for many rea­sons. For example:

• Brain and spinal cord MRIs help diag­nose and eval­u­ate brain aneurysms, brain or spinal cord tumors or injuries, pinched nerves, mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis, spine anato­my or align­ment, or stroke.
• Heart (car­diac) MRIs can help your provider see the anato­my of your heart struc­tures and how they are func­tion­ing, diag­nose heart con­di­tions, or observe the effects of a heart attack.
• Body MRIs allow your provider to find signs of liv­er dis­ease, inflam­ma­to­ry bow­el dis­ease (like Crohn’s or ulcer­a­tive col­i­tis), or tumors in your chest, abdomen, or pelvis.
• Bone and joint MRIs help your provider eval­u­ate bone infec­tions or tumors, disk abnor­mal­i­ties in the spine, or joint prob­lems result­ing from injuries. 

A word from our Doctor: 

“Our radi­ol­o­gy staff at Duly strives for qual­i­ty of ser­vice, prompt­ness and excel­lence. We want to pro­vide the same lev­el of care we would want for our own fam­i­ly. An MRI can seem daunt­ing, but our nurs­es and tech­nol­o­gists are won­der­ful, and you’ll be in great hands.”

-Dr. Michael Choe, MD, Board Cer­ti­fied Radi­ol­o­gist, Depart­ment of Radi­ol­o­gy at Duly Health and Care

Call to sched­ule imag­ing today

Can an MRI Help Diag­nose Cancer?

It depends. Often, MRIs help providers find tumors and assis­nt in assess­ing if a tumor is can­cer­ous. They can also use an MRI to see if can­cer has spread. How­ev­er, an MRI isn’t always enough. You may need oth­er types of scans or tests like biop­sies (a sam­ple of the tumor is exam­ined under a micro­scope for signs of can­cer) in addi­tion to the MRI. 

In some cas­es, a breast MRI may be able to find cer­tain breast can­cers that don’t always show up in mam­mo­grams, espe­cial­ly in women with dense breasts. Your provider may rec­om­mend get­ting an MRI in addi­tion to – but not instead of – a mammogram. 

How Is an MRI Dif­fer­ent From a CT Scan?

Com­put­ed tomog­ra­phy or CT scans are anoth­er com­mon imag­ing test. Both MRIs and CTs allow your provider to get a look at what’s hap­pen­ing in your body, but there are sev­er­al key dif­fer­ences between them. 

Also read: Radi­ol­o­gy – Types of Imag­ing Explained

Are MRIs Safe?

In gen­er­al, MRIs are very safe. The tests don’t expose you to ion­iz­ing radi­a­tion and do not cause can­cer. There is a slight risk of being aller­gic to con­trast (the dye that’s some­times used dur­ing an MRI to enhance the images), but aller­gies are rare and usu­al­ly mild. Oth­er than pos­si­ble nau­sea or a headache from con­trast, there are no side effects of MRIs. 

Also read: To Use Con­trast, Or Not Use Con­trast: That Is The Question

How­ev­er, there’s a catch. The mag­nets used in MRIs are very strong and can be dan­ger­ous if you have met­al in your body, like an implant­ed pace­mak­er, met­al screws or pins, or an intrauter­ine device. Patients who are preg­nant are safe to receive an MRI, but should not get contrast.

How Do You Pre­pare? Can You Eat Before an MRI?

There’s good news if you’re get­ting stressed about an MRI. There is lit­tle to no prep work involved. In most cas­es, you can eat, drink, and take med­ica­tions nor­mal­ly before the test, unless oth­er­wise instruct­ed. If you need con­trast and have had an aller­gic reac­tion to it in the past, your provider may have you take med­ica­tion to help pre­vent a reaction. 

How Long Does It Take to Get the Results of an MRI?

You won’t have to play the wait­ing game for long. Here at Duly Health and Care, your provider will get the results with­in 48 hours, but in the major­i­ty of cas­es with­in 24 hours.

How Much Does an MRI Cost?

The cost of an MRI varies depend­ing on fac­tors like the part of your body being scanned, your insur­ance, and where you live. Even if you have a high co-pay or have to pay out-of-pock­et, try not to let the cost scare you – many health sys­tems have pay­ment plans. 

Get a billing esti­mate from Duly Health and Care. 

Where Can I Get an MRI Near Me?

For­tu­nate­ly, there are many places to get an MRI, so you like­ly won’t have to trav­el very far. MRIs can be per­formed in hos­pi­tals, doc­tors’ offices, or surgery centers. 

Find an MRI test loca­tion at Duly Health and Care. 

Have ques­tions about an upcom­ing MRI or need to sched­ule an appoint­ment? Talk to your Duly Health and Care pri­ma­ry care provider or call the Radi­ol­o­gy Depart­ment at 630−545−7880.