Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was born, and Scientists soon learned that the large blood flow changes measured by PET could also be imaged by the correct type of MRI.
In the early 1980s MRI was introduced clinically, and during the 1980s a veritable explosion of technical refinements and diagnostic MR applications took place. More or less concurrently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI or MR scanning) was developed by researchers including Peter Mansfield and Paul Lauterbur, who were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2003. Soon after the introduction of CAT in the early 1980s, the development of radioligands allowed single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) of the brain. Cormack and Hounsfield won the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their work. In the early 1970s, Allan McLeod Cormack and Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield introduced computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scanning), and ever more detailed anatomic images of the brain became available for diagnostic and research purposes. In 1927, Egas Moniz introduced cerebral angiography, whereby both normal and abnormal blood vessels in and around the brain could be visualized with great precision. This technique was called pneumoencephalography. Dandy also observed that air introduced into the subarachnoid space via lumbar spinal puncture could enter the cerebral ventricles and also demonstrate the cerebrospinal fluid compartments around the base of the brain and over its surface. X-ray images of the ventricular system within the brain were obtained by injection of filtered air directly into one or both lateral ventricles of the brain.
In 1918, the American neurosurgeon Walter Dandy introduced the technique of ventriculography. The first chapter of the history of neuroimaging traces back to the Italian neuroscientist Angelo Mosso who invented the 'human circulation balance', which could non-invasively measure the redistribution of blood during emotional and intellectual activity.
One of the more controversial uses of neuroimaging has been researching " thought identification" or mind-reading.įunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of a head, from top to base of the skull Such processing causes the involved area of the brain to increase metabolism and "light up" on the scan. Functional imaging, which is used to diagnose metabolic diseases and lesions on a finer scale (such as Alzheimer's disease) and also for neurological and cognitive psychology research and building brain–computer interfaces.įunctional imaging enables, for example, the processing of information by centers in the brain to be visualized directly.Structural imaging, which deals with the structure of the nervous system and the diagnosis of gross (large scale) intracranial disease (such as a tumor) and injury.Neuroimaging falls into two broad categories:
Physicians who specialize in the performance and interpretation of neuroimaging in the clinical setting are neuroradiologists. It is a relatively new discipline within medicine, neuroscience, and psychology. Neuroimaging or brain imaging is the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function, or pharmacology of the nervous system. Indirectly(directly) image structure, function/pharmacology of the nervous system Para-sagittal MRI of the head in a patient with benign familial macrocephaly.