MRI
Uses magnets and radio waves, no radiation, to give very detailed pictures of soft tissue such as brain, breast, liver, and prostate.
Superior soft-tissue contrast makes MRI the standard for brain tumours, prostate (multiparametric MRI with PI-RADS), rectal cancer staging, liver lesions, breast screening in high-risk women, and bone marrow. Diffusion-weighted imaging adds cellularity information. Whole-body MRI is used in myeloma and for radiation-free surveillance.
How it works
Proton spin alignment in a strong magnetic field; radiofrequency excitation and relaxation times (T1, T2) encode tissue properties. Gadolinium contrast shows perfusion.
- No ionising radiation
- Best soft-tissue and brain imaging
- Functional sequences (diffusion, perfusion)
- Slow and expensive
- Motion artefacts
- Gadolinium concerns in renal impairment
Young adults with a grade 2 IDH-mutant glioma who have had surgery can now take a daily tablet that slows or reverses tumour growth and defers radiotherapy and chemotherapy, both of which carry long-term cognitive costs, by years. It confirms that the IDH mutation is a driver that can be targeted, not just a marker. Whether it improves survival or cognition over the long term, and whether it helps in higher-grade or previously treated tumours, is unknown.
Patients with rectal cancer whose tumour is mismatch-repair deficient (about 5-10% of rectal cancers) can now be offered immunotherapy alone with the realistic expectation of avoiding surgery, radiotherapy and a permanent stoma. This requires mismatch repair testing on the diagnostic biopsy, close endoscopic and MRI surveillance, and treatment in an experienced centre. It does not apply to the 90% of rectal cancers that are mismatch-repair proficient.
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"magnetic resonance imaging" OR ABSTRACT:"magnetic resonance imaging" OR TITLE:"multiparametric MRI" OR ABSTRACT:"multiparametric MRI") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about MRI, not a curated reading list.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TechnologyCT (computed tomography)
Shares Canon Medical Systems, Philips, A ten-year cohort of incidental findings to calibrate follow-up guidelines, One certified open-source de-identification pipeline for scans and slides.
- TermBlood-brain barrier (BBB)
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Shares GE HealthCare, No clinical claims for imaging-derived biomarkers without phantom and standards compliance, Structured, coded radiology reports for cancer response instead of free text, Mitchell D. Schnall.
- TechnologyNuclear medicine and total-body PET hardware
Shares Canon Medical Systems, GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers.
- ProductTucatinib
Shares Brain metastases included by default in every solid-tumour trial, Prevention trials aimed only at brain metastasis, HER2-positive brain metastases, The blood–brain barrier & brain metastasis.
- BottleneckOverdiagnosis and false alarms
Shares Stop watching stable low-risk pancreatic cysts after five years, A ten-year cohort of incidental findings to calibrate follow-up guidelines, Prostate active surveillance without scheduled biopsies: MRI and blood tests decide, Multiparametric prostate MRI (PI-RADS).
- TechnologyUltrasound
Shares Replace six-monthly ultrasound with a blood test for liver cancer in cirrhosis, HCC surveillance in cirrhosis (ultrasound + AFP), High-risk pancreatic surveillance (CAPS / PRECEDE), Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- PathwayOrgan tropism: seed and soil
Shares Whole-body MRI, HER2-positive brain metastases, Uveal melanoma, The blood–brain barrier & brain metastasis.