Children's Hospital Boston  300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 355-6000
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Clinical Services (Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center):
Functional MRI
What is Functional MRI or fMRI?
fMRI stands for functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. An fMRI scanner is a very large magnet that uses a safe, non-invasive magnetic field to take a picture of the brain while it is working.

fMRI uses a magnetic field to measure increases in blood flow all over the brain. This way, the fMRI scan allows us to see what areas of the brain are working harder than others during a specific activity.

fMRI is used for understanding how the brain works. By having people perform simple tasks during the scan (such as moving digits or limbs) we can see how the brain responds.

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