Although the first images based on magnetic resonance imaging techniques were produced more than 20 years ago. the growth of the clinical and research magnetic resonance industry has shown no signs of slowing down. Each year seems to bring some new hardware and software advance that pushes the envelope even further,helping to redefine once again the state of the art in diagnostic medical imaging today. The past decade-plus has seen the industry advance well beyond the initial partial saturation spin echo imaging sequences. Partial flip angle gradient echo imaging sequences, various fat saturation techniques, inversion recovery imaging (including especially short and long Tl, or FLAIR, variants), fast imaging techniques
including fast/turbo spin echo and echo planar imaging and their variants, various types of magnetic resonance angiography, MR spectroscopy, diffusion and perfusion weighted imaging, magnetization transfer imaging, and functional MR imaging, are just a few of the myriad new sequences and capabilities that have been added to the diagnostic armamentarium of the clinical diagnostic MR practitioner.