What is an "MRI"?

What is an "MRI"?

Charles Ribak, Ph.D. (Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, UC Irvine School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: If I have one seizure, will I definitely have another?; Is there a cure for epilepsy?; What are the surgical treatments for epilepsy? and more...

An MRI actually stands for "magnetic resonance imaging." MRI involves some very large magnets which are imaging the water in the brain. The MRI allows you to do determine the gray matter from the white matter regions of the brain. You can actually obtain excellent resolution, down to about two to three millimeters. This will allow you to look at structures in the brain, such as the amygdala, the hippocampus. You're able to visualize these small brain areas that reside within the temporal lobe, determining whether there is any abnormality, if there is a smaller size on one side than the other side. Therefore the MRI allows us to image the brain.