MRI is a non invasive method used to render images of the inside of an object. It is mainly used in medical imaging to demonstrate pathological or other physiological alterations of living tissues. It is also used for detecting rock permeability to hydrocarbons and as a non-destructive testing method to characterize the quality of products such as produce and timber.
In the early years MRI was referred to as nuclear magnetic resonance imaging – NMRI. Magnetic resonance imaging was developed from knowledge gained in the study of nuclear magnetic resonance. The word nuclear has been associated with ionizing radiation exposure and that is not used in MRI. So the prevent patients from making a negative association between MRI and ionizing radiation the word was removed.
