A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visualization method includes identifying a location of a thermally induced lesion in an MRI image by deriving a spatial pattern of MRI pixel values, which represents the lesion as it is expected to appear in the MRI image, as a function of thermal energy applied in creating the lesion. The MRI image is matched with the spatial pattern of pixel values. A local maximum value is found in the matched MRI image, and a location of the local maximum value is presented in the matched MRI image as the location of the lesion.
