An MRI provides images of soft tissue like the heart, lungs, liver and other organs that don’t show up clearly in x-ray examinations. An MRI can help your doctor assess the structure and function of many of your organs. Your doctor might recommend an MRI scan to diagnose and assess brain aneurysms or tumours. It provides a provisional diagnosis as to what the brain lesion may be. Also if you have suffered a stroke, an MRI scan can find the location of the blockage or bleeding in the brain that has caused the stroke. It also provides a diagnostic test to review the structural causes of epilepsy.
An MRI scan provides a safer and non-invasive alternative to an x-ray angiography for the diagnosis of diseases of the heart and the brain. Injuries to soft tissues, joints and to the spine can be found and assessed using MRI. This scan also helps in planning and preparing some surgeries including awake craniotomy (brain surgery to remove brain lesions) and deep brain stimulation surgery.