Funding for a new mobile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit has been approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The unit will be based at the Boise VA Medical Center and will also serve Mountain Home Air Force Base.

The grant to purchase the new unit is approximately $2 million. MRI technology enables physicians to look inside a human body by using magnetism and radio waves to produce clear pictures of the human anatomy.

Unlike a computed tomography (CT) scans, an MRI does not use x-rays nor does it require the use of dyes. Idaho was just one of two states that will be getting a mobile MRI unit.

The other mobile MRI unit will serve veterans and active duty personnel in Wyoming and northern Colorado.

Other projects approved for funding as part of the DOD-VA Health Care Sharing Incentive Fund include a joint use physical therapy unit in New Jersey, a radiology center in Kentucky, a sleep lab in Missouri, a cardiac and neurosurgery effort in the state of Washington, an oncology program in Chicago, and a digital imaging system and hyperbaric chamber in Texas.