Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI or MR) is the most advanced diagnostic imaging tool available. This safe, non-invasive procedure allows more complete viewing of the body than any other modality. This technology uses no ionizing radiation, such as x-rays. The patient is placed onto a table surrounded by a powerful magnet. Minute signals are produced as the body responds to the magnetic field. These signals are converted to a cross-sectional image, allowing radiologists and other specialists to look deep into the body for injury or disease.
The Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center performs hundreds of examinations per year on dogs and cats. Now seen as the gold standard for examining the brain and spine, MRI has replaced many of the more invasive procedures of the past. Common diseases diagnosed include spinal disk herniation, brain tumors, trauma of the brain and spine, strokes, and brain malformations. MRI has lead to earlier and more accurate diagnosis for these and other diseases. Important advances in the knowledge of spinal cord injury from disk herniation, infectious and degenerative brain diseases, and brain tumors have been made by the specialists here at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center. Using MRI, specialists can give more accurate answers to important questions, such as the likeliness that a patient will walk again following a disk herniation. This allows owners to make more informed decisions for their pets and families.