Magnetic resonance is a safe, non-invasive technique which can be used to produce high resolution, thin tomographic slices in any chosen plane, or true three-dimensional blocks of information. It has become the method of choice for studying the central nervous system, the vertebral column and many joints, but has not yet gained general acceptance in researching the cardiovascular system, although there are techniques for overcoming the problems of cardiac movement to produce excellent cardiovascular images.

The purpose of this book is to provide the student and radiologist with a reference which can be used to identify the major structures in the body, bearing in mind that in each region a more detailed high-resolution study can usually be obtained by specialised units. The illustrations, each of which is accompanied by an explanatory line drawing, are soft tissue images based on the water content rather than the familiar X-ray shadowgram of mainly hard tissues.