Magnetic resonance medical imaging, which is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance, creates an image of the NMR signal in a thin slice through the human body. Images taken consecutively create a 3D image of anatomical structures. Magnetic resonance medical imaging is the analytical tool of choice for examining the brain and spinal cord as well as evaluating soft tissue.

Molecular magnetic resonance medical imaging allows for the visualization and analysis of cells and molecules. At this level, it is doable to stalk and assess cellular functions that can give never-before-available insight into the nature of the disease process. For instance, scientists have long known about the correlation between inflammation and heart disease. Nevertheless, the medical imaging tools to calculate inflammation connected to the heart have simply not been accessible at a adequate enough level of measurement to fully explore the connection.

On January sixteenth 2007 the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a study that uses molecular MRI medical imaging to get insight into the relationship connecting inflammation and heart disease. Researchers created a synthetic material, gadolinium�diethyltriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), that is able to track down and connect to white blood cells imbedded in arterial walls. The DPTA permitted mMRI medical imaging visualization of the WBC's, they could actually number the cells and calculate how stable they are. Researchers found a positive connection between the number of white cells imbedded in the arterial walls and the likelihood of following heart attack. The initial research was performed on mice. Additional research will be conducted on larger animals and if successful, the research will move to human clinical trials. The discovery of better, more effective and more specific medical imaging �tagging� media is the hottest new area of research in molecular magnetic resonance medical imaging. Recently, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have given their report on research involving a new medical imaging technique for molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that can perceive molecules ten thousand times lower concentrations than regular MRI techniques. The technique, called HYPER-CEST, for hyperpolarized xenon chemical exchange saturation transfer, hyperpolarizes atoms with laser light to enhance their MRI signal, then places the atoms into a nanoscale cage biosensor which is created specific for a individual protein target. This medical imaging technique is expected to be very useful in detecting cancer cells at the very earliest stages of cancer.

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