Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Clinical Practice: Look Before You Leap

Excerpt

It has been only about a decade and a half since the first human studies reported on the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to map the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response associated with neural activation (Bandetinni et al., 1992; Frahm et al., 1992; Kwong et al., 1992; Ogawa et al., 1992). Since 1992, there has been a rapid growth of studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study normal and disordered function. A search of PubMed papers from 1992 to the present reveals just under 4,000 papers identified by the search terms “functional magnetic resonance imaging and cognition” and nearly 1,300 papers for the terms “functional magnetic resonance imaging and emotion.” Although some of these papers focused on structural brain imaging and daily function, while others were review articles, the large majority of these papers presented original fMRI data. The breadth of application of fMRI is as impressive as its frequent use in published studies. Researchers have used fMRI not only to study classical brain functions, but also deception, the inference of intention, self-concept, phantom pain, the influence of culture on charitable donations, socioeconomic deprivation, and persistent vegetative state. Moreover, investigators are using fMRI to provide information about applied problems in law, economics, and marketing. …