Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

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Abstract
UNTIL recently, the major clinical imaging modalities, with the exception of ultrasound, have employed ionizing radiation. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a physical phenomenon discovered in the 1940s and only recently applied to medicine, now allows high-resolution tomographic and three-dimensional imaging without ionizing radiation. In addition, this technology shows promise of allowing the evaluation of tissue pathological characteristics and the assessment of metabolic function noninvasively. Nuclear magnetic resonance was first applied as a spectroscopic technique by chemists to determine molecular structure. Subsequently, NMR spectroscopy was applied to biologic substances and systems. Recently developed methods allow NMR spectroscopic techniques to be applied to the intact animal or human noninvasively. Ten years ago, Lauterbur1described a method for obtaining images using the principles of NMR. With subsequent technical improvements, NMR images can now be generated with spatial resolution approaching that of x-ray computed tomography without the need for radio-opaque contrast medium and