Magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance (MR) plays a leading role in pain imaging, offering optimal anatomic imaging and contributing functional and chemical studies of Central and Peripheral Nervous System. These tools have increased the comprehension of different chronic painful syndromes and the evaluation of treatment response to pharmacological or other therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, several neuro-MRI techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), MR spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), have been demonstrated to depict nervous system pathologies associated with pain. Also, body MRI may be useful to depict several causes and manifestations of pain, local or diffuse, acute or chronic, covering the entire spectrum of disorders, supporting a multidisciplinary diagnosis process. In this section, after a brief discussion of MR basics, the main imaging procedures and their application in assessing the main painful syndromes will be deeply explored, with support of pictorial essays for each technique.