Editing Magnetic resonance imaging (section)

===Overuse===
{{See also |Overdiagnosis}}

Medical societies issue guidelines for when physicians should use MRI on patients and recommend against overuse. MRI can detect health problems or confirm a diagnosis, but medical societies often recommend that MRI not be the first procedure for creating a plan to diagnose or manage a patient's complaint. A common case is to use MRI to seek a cause of [[low back pain]]; the [[American College of Physicians]], for example, recommends against imaging (including MRI) as unlikely to result in a positive outcome for the patient.<ref name="ACPfive">{{cite journal |author1=Consumer Reports |author2=American College of Physicians |author1-link=Consumer Reports |author2-link=American College of Physicians |others=presented by [[ABIM Foundation]] |title=Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question |journal=Choosing Wisely |url=http://choosingwisely.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/5things_12_factsheet_Amer_College_Phys.pdf |access-date=August 14, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624075449/http://choosingwisely.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/5things_12_factsheet_Amer_College_Phys.pdf |archive-date=June 24, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="backimage">{{cite journal |author1=Consumer Reports |author2=American College of Physicians |author1-link=Consumer Reports |author2-link=American College of Physicians |date=April 2012 |title=Imaging tests for lower-back pain: Why you probably don't need them |journal=High Value Care |url=http://consumerhealthchoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/High-Value-Care-Back-Pain-ACP.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115221844/http://consumerhealthchoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/High-Value-Care-Back-Pain-ACP.pdf | archive-date=15 January 2013 | url-status=dead |access-date=August 14, 2012}}</ref>