Magnetic resonance elastography, or MRE, allows your doctor to view physical properties of structures inside your body. This can help identify stiffening, or cirrhosis, of your liver.

MRE combines magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, with low-frequency sound waves.

The MRI shows size and structure of your tissues and organs — in this case, the liver and abdomen. The low-frequency sound waves reveal physical properties of those tissues and organs.

During the test, which goes much like a traditional MRI, a small drum is placed over the area to be examined. This drum generates the sound waves. The sound waves move through stiff tissue and supple tissue at different rates. A computer analyzes the difference and shows, in what's called an elastogram, what's healthy, soft tissue and what's not, on a color scale.