NMR: nuclear magnetic resonance imaging

NMR has become an indispensable technique in medical imaging. Thanks to its innocuity, many informations are revealed by this technique in particular in the study of the cardiovascular system, of the pelvis, liver, breast of children and pregnant women. Thanks to its permanent improvements, NMR allows today a morphological but also a functional analysis of new domains, like the cerebral functions, the spectroscopy, the study of cerebral-spinal liquid fluxes, the diffusion and perfusion in tissues. The aim of this book is double: first to give to the reader the indispensable physical, technical and semeiological bases for the understanding of NMR, and to make a status of the most recent advances of this examination technique. This 4. edition has been fully updated in order to integrate the most recent technical advances, in particular in the head and osteo-articular domains. After an historical and technical recall, the different domains of application are presented according to a didactical scheme: description of techniques and preparation of examinations, presentation of normal results and of main pathologies. The interventional and functional NMR are the object of a more specific development. The main protocols of exploration with respect to body part and to the pathology are developed at the end of the book. (J.S.)