What Types of Cancer Do Doctors Detect With MRIs?

MRIs are incredibly useful and important tools for cancer detection. In this article, we will explore MRIs, how they work, what you should know before you get one, and, most importantly, the types of cancers they detect.

What Is an MRI?

Before we can explore what types of cancer doctors detect with MRIs, it’s helpful to understand the procedure. MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. As the word “imaging” suggests, MRIs are tools doctors use to observe, or “image,” the inside of a human body. Using an MRI, doctors can detect cancers, which will be the focus of this article, but they can also detect other ailments, like:

• Spinal cord injuries
• Brain injuries
• Multiple Sclerosis, an auto-immune disease
• Eye problems
• Brain infections
• Damage to the optic nerve
• And more

MRIs are life-saving devices because, when properly utilized, doctors can leverage the technology to find diseases, especially cancers, before they spread and further damage the body. Doctors use the information gathered from MRIs to create medical plans. Patients also return to the devices during their treatments to see the progression of their diseases.

How Does an MRI Work?

Even if you do not have firsthand experience with MRI machines, you have probably seen one in movies or television. They are large cylindrical tubes that contain a very strong magnet. To use an MRI machine, patients lie on a plank that lifts and travels into the machine, surrounding the patient with the intense magnetic field. The machine sends radio frequencies through the person’s body. The radiofrequency waves detect signals from the nuclei of hydrogen atoms inside the patient. The information gathered from these signals travels to a computer, which converts them into black and white images.

Doctors may also inject contrast materials into the patient’s body in order to produce clearer images from the MRI. Contrast, after the body absorbs it, increases the speed at which tissues respond to radio and magnetic waves.

After an MRI, patients can see cross-sectional images of their internal organs. It’s helpful to think of an MRI as a camera that takes images from several angles. Using an MRI, you can simultaneously look at your body from the side, front, or even above your head. MRIs show images of soft tissues that are difficult to see with other imaging tests.

Other Medical Imaging Technologies

Of course, MRIs are not the only tools doctors use to analyze a patient’s insides. For many years, doctors have leveraged several technologies to uncover what goes on under the skin. In this section, we will explore a few other medical imaging technologies you should know.

Computed Tomography

Computed topography, which we often abbreviate as a CT scan, is medical imaging technology that is similar to an MRI but different in several vital ways. Like an MRI, CT scans lift people into a tube to analyze their bodies. However, CT scans use a more traditional X-ray system to create its images. A CT scan takes multiple pictures in quick secession to develop the cross-sectional images doctors need. They tend to be more detailed than plain X-rays. Doctors may use CT scans to find tumors, diseases, and accident-related injuries.

Sonography

Also known as ultrasound imaging, sonography is a medical imaging tool that utilizes sound waves. To administer an ultrasound, doctors apply gel on the spot where they want to develop an image. They then put a probe, which is called a transducer, on the spot. The transducer creates an electrical signal that gets converted into images. Usually, doctors turn to sonography when they want to look at the growth of a fetus. But sonography also comes in handy when doctors want to examine symptoms involving infection, pain, or swelling. Using sonography, doctors can look at the gallbladder, liver, kidney, brain, spine, heart, and other organs.