If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, you may be questioning why your doctor has order an MRI for cancer in Albuquerque.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging can not only detect cancer in the body, it can definitively determine if tumors are malignant or benign (cancerous or non-cancerous), as well as offer more precise information about the location, size and implications of the tumor for neighboring tissue.

Using MRI for cancer will also give doctors pertinent information about how to proceed, surgically. Once you’re undergoing treatment, or have undergone surgery, the MRI tracks how successful treatment/surgery has been.

How it works

Without deploying radiation, the radio waves and magnets used in MRI technology generate computer images of tissue and organs in minute detail.

Shaped like a large donut, the MRI is a tube the patient is rolled into, on an examining table. Not all MRI equipment is the same, with some machines being less constricting.

Usually safe enough for testing even women who are pregnant, this technology looks inside the body, generating images which guide further treatment and the recommendations of your doctor.

How should I prepare?

Most MRI tests require no special preparations on the part of the patient. In some instances, patients will be asked to fast for a prescribed period prior.

Medications should continue normally, unless you’re told otherwise by your doctor. Patients are sometimes asked to change into a gown (usually when what you’re wearing incorporates metal elements, as these can interfere with your MRI).

All items like eyeglasses, earrings or hair pins should be removed before the test. If you think you may be pregnant, inform your tech.

It is important for your physician to know if you have a pacemaker, aneurysm clip, stimulators, a history of metal in eye, shrapnel, drug pump, screws, pins, plates or other metallic implants. Some of these may affect your ability to have an MRI, but will be evaluated after scheduling.

Other important information

Some patients may be administered a contrast agent (medical dye) either by IV or orally. This dye helps to generate clearer images.

The length of your exam will be 15 - 90 minutes, dependent on your diagnosis and the body part being imaged. It is extremely important that you stay as still as possible for the duration.

It’s important that you let your referring provider know if you’re claustrophobic. They can prescribe you an oral anti-anxiety medication. If you’re claustrophobic and require this medication, please ask a member of your family or a friend to drive you home following the MRI.

You’ll be asked to stay on the table until your images are analyzed, in case the attending radiologist needs more images.

Your results will be sent to your doctor, who can then discuss the results with you in detail.