Your doctor may order an MRI, CT scan or other diagnostic tests to learn important information about a disease or injury, and to help in the diagnosis and treatment of the problem. Depending on your exact case, your doctor may request the use of a contrast dye to enhance the results of the test. While the tests and contrast dyes used are generally ...

Knee injuries can sideline professional and amateur athletes alike. The results of a new study suggest that a single magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurement can help doctors determine patients' risk for knee injuries associated with kneecap instability. The kneecap protects the knee and plays an important role in how the knee bends. It is a sm...

Because it does not use radiation to create images of tissues and organs inside a living body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the safest diagnostic tests used today. While relatively safe, MRIs do pose unique safety hazards for patients and others near or inside the magnetic resonance (MR) environment. To ensure safety and effectiveness...

Imaging tests can provide your doctor with valuable information about your condition. Your physician may order an imaging test to diagnose an illness or determine the severity of an injury, for example. Imaging tests can also help your doctor determine if a treatment is working. Getting accurate results from an imaging test is important, of course,...

When it comes to deciding which treatment is best for patients with chest pain and coronary heart disease (CHD), doctors will typically base the decision on how constricted the arteries serving the heart are. Doctors usually asses this by performing cardiac catheterization, which is an invasive procedure. The results of a new study show that a non-...

Almost everyone who has ever had an x-ray, or who has seen a show where a doctor slaps the x-ray film into the lighted box, has wondered how to read the image. Reading an x-ray may be easier than you think. X-rays use electromagnetic rays, which are a type of radiation. An x-ray machine emits these rays, which pass through the human body to reach a...

If you have ever undergone medical imaging, such as an MRI or CT scan, chances are good that you received contrast. MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) and CT (computed tomography) are types of medical equipment that creates image of internal organs and structures. Contrast material enhances and improves the quality of these images. Contrast material...

The results of a new study suggests that PET/CT imaging may do a better job of helping doctors diagnose dangerous blood clots than several other methods used today. Blood clots are normally a good thing – the formation of blood clots stop excessively bleeding. Sometimes, though, blood clots can pose a health hazard and can even be life threatening....