Abstract

MRI is very popular among clinicians and patients are referred to a large extent to radiological facilities to help establishing diagnoses. However, despite MRI is one of the more expensive imaging tests its not automatically the one solving all clinical problems.

The lecture will highlight the value of MRI for early diagnosis of both axial and appendicular arthritides. On the other hand, certain diagnostic problems will be outlined that did benefit from additional imaging modalities or from a carefully obtained medical history.

Learning objectives:

• Learn how to use MRI for establishing a diagnosis.

• Learn how early detection differs from differentiation of arthritides.

• Identify diseases that do not benefit from MR imaging.