Resources/Protocols
Abdominal MRI protocols
Breath-hold discipline and contrast timing: abdominal MRI punishes sloppy preparation faster than any other region.
Abdominal protocols live or die on two things the radiographer controls completely — respiratory technique and timing. A perfectly parameterised sequence acquired through inconsistent breath-holds is worthless, and a dynamic liver study started a few seconds late misses the phase the diagnosis depends on.
Deep-dive protocol guides
Full step-by-step protocols — positioning, per-sequence planning, parameters, artifacts and a review checklist for each study:
Studies in this region
- MRCP
- Liver dynamic
- Liver elastography
- Liver fat fraction
- Upper abdomen
- KUB
- MR urography
- MR enterography
- Renal angiography
- Abdominal angiography
Planning
- Coach breathing before the first sequence: an unrehearsed patient produces inconsistent breath-holds throughout the exam.
- Keep breath-hold instructions identical between sequences so slice positions correspond across the study.
- Use respiratory triggering or navigators for sequences too long to hold, and verify the trigger is tracking before committing.
- Time dynamic contrast phases from the injection, following the protocol's arterial, portal and delayed windows.
- For MRCP, keep the heavily T2-weighted slab centred on the biliary tree and confirm coverage on the localizer.
Sequences by study
| Study | Typical core | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Upper abdomen | T2 with and without fat suppression, in/opposed-phase T1, DWI | Broad characterisation of solid organs |
| Liver dynamic | 3D fat-suppressed T1 pre-contrast and timed post-contrast phases | Lesion enhancement pattern over time |
| MRCP | Heavily T2-weighted thick slab and thin-slice 3D | Fluid-bright biliary and pancreatic ducts |
| MR urography | Heavily T2-weighted coronal imaging, optionally with excretory contrast phases | Collecting system and ureteric course |
| Enterography | Coronal and axial T2 with bowel distension, dynamic post-contrast | Bowel wall inflammation and strictures |
| Fat fraction / elastography | Multi-echo chemical-shift sequences; elastography add-on hardware | Quantitative liver assessment |
Mistakes that cost repeats
- Inconsistent breath-holds that shift anatomy between sequences and make comparison impossible.
- Starting a dynamic series late and losing the arterial phase — unrecoverable without repeating the contrast injection.
- Respiratory triggering left unchecked while the patient breathes irregularly.
- Insufficient bowel distension in enterography, which mimics or masks wall thickening.
Common questions
- Why does breathing technique matter so much in abdominal MRI?
- The abdominal organs move centimetres with respiration. Inconsistent breath-holds shift anatomy between sequences, so a lesion seen on one series may not appear at the same position on the next — and motion blur can hide small lesions entirely.
- What is MRCP and how does it work?
- MR cholangiopancreatography uses very heavily T2-weighted imaging so that static fluid in the bile and pancreatic ducts appears bright while surrounding tissue is dark, producing a duct map without any contrast injection.
- Why are liver studies acquired in multiple contrast phases?
- Lesions are distinguished by how their enhancement changes over time. Arterial, portal venous and delayed phases each carry different diagnostic information, and a single post-contrast series cannot substitute for them.
- What does in-phase and opposed-phase imaging show?
- It detects fat within tissue. Signal that drops on the opposed-phase images indicates fat and water within the same voxel — the basis for identifying hepatic steatosis and fat-containing lesions.
Try it in ScanFlo: Acquire an upper-abdomen T2 with a coached breath-hold, then repeat during free breathing. Compare liver edge sharpness and vessel definition — the difference is entirely technique, not parameters.