This minisymposium on magnetic resonance (MR) was a collective idea of the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR) MR Committee that began taking shape in early to mid-2015. Members of the committee volunteered to participate and, in some instances, invited their colleagues to contribute to this minisymposium which reviews MR techniques as applied to the imaging of children.

The symposium begins with a superficial but practical review of MR physics for clinical radiologists. Next, there is a comprehensive review of contrast agents used in pediatric MR. In light of the excellent special issue in Pediatric Radiology on body MR — a collection of work based on the first SPR body MR course in October 2015 in Toronto — the committee decided to concentrate on imaging techniques rather than specific pathologies. With this in mind, we complete this minisymposium with manuscripts on basic pediatric brain imaging, advanced pediatric brain imaging and advanced body MR imaging.

It is the hope of the SPR MR Committee members to provide the readership of Pediatric Radiology with a clinically useful review and update of MR imaging techniques for our pediatric patients.

Taylor Chung, Chair

Society for Pediatric Radiology MR Committee, 2015–2017