MRI - a torture chamber for multiple sclerosis patients.
Just kidding. Kind of.
Technically, a MRI is a chamber tube that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to develop a picture of a human's insides. MRI's of the brain, cervical spine, and thoracic spine (brain, neck and back) are taken at various times with MS patients to look specifically at the central nervous system. For those with MS, MRI's will show white spots that indicate a lesion. These white spots, lesions, are places of the nervous system that have been damaged. (Basically....)
MRI's are not only used as a diagnostic tool for multiple sclerosis, but also as a tool to determine the progression of the disease. If a patient is presenting new or increased symptoms, a MRI will usually be ordered to determine if there is activity present.
Here's how the MRI actually works: