How does an mri scan work? i have not been able to find much information about mri scans and i just want to know the basic facts.

When : When the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) was invented it allowed making diagnoses without invading the body much, much easier. A person lies inside what looks like a big donut hole (not the entire body). The MRI machine uses both a magnetic field and radio waves to make detailed pictures of the body. It can show the image of bones, muscles, the brain, internal organs etc. The MRI makes cross-sectional images — so that the body can be examined at numerous depths and levels. Quite an amazing diagnostic tool!

Complex: Basically, we look at the spin of the electrons around the hydrogen atoms in your body. We can put you in the magnet and "read" the signal from the electrons lining up (proton density) or send in radio pulses to knock the electrons into different spins and look at the signal that is emitted (t1, t2, etc). This is very oversimplified.