The Role of Neuroimaging in Understanding Brain Disorders

Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) tools to investigate the composition and operation of the central nervous system. It was created as an impartial, non-invasive method of doing scientific research on a healthy human brain. It is increasingly being used for quantitative research on psychiatric and brain disorders. Neuroimaging is not a medical specialty but rather a very interdisciplinary area of research.

Neuroradiology, a medical specialty that employs brain imaging in a clinical environment, is different from neuroimaging. Radiologists who work in the medical field practice neuroradiology. Finding brain lesions including vascular disease, strokes, tumors, and inflammatory disease is the main goal of neuroradiology. Neuroradiology, in contrast to neuroimaging, is qualitative (based on individual impressions and significant clinical training), while it occasionally makes use of quantitative techniques as well. Techniques for imaging the functional brain, such functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), are frequently utilized in neuroimaging but not often in neuroradiology. Neuroimaging can be divided into two categories:

Structural Imaging: Brain structure can be measured using structural imaging techniques, such as voxel-based morphometry.

Functional Imaging: Brain function is studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as well as other methods like PET and MEG.