If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying! Are you looking at MRIs? Feeling some confusion about the diffusion? Feel impaired when it comes to the FLAIR? Wish you could cheat a little? Here’s a little cheat sheet on all the sequences you NEED to know if you are looking at MRIs! --T1: It’s for anatomy, so brain structures reflect the same color as real life. So gray matter is gray on T1 & white matter is white on T1. It’s also for contrast. Contrast material is taken up by masses making them light up & them easier to see. --T2: It’s the water sensitive sequence. What is pathologic water in the brain? Edema! My attending once said, “Everything bad in this world is trying to turn you back into what you came from—water." -- DWI: Diffusion detects stroke, which are bright on diffusion. But anything that makes space tight in the brain can be bright on diffusion (highly cellular masses, clotted blood, pus under pressure, etc.) --Gradient: Gradient is sensitive to metals. And what’s the most important metal in body? Iron—bc iron is in blood. So gradient is our blood sensitive sequence Hopefully, this knowledge of the MRI protocol will stay with you for the long haul!