Other modalities than fMRI

There are several other important other imaging modalities for an MRI–diffusion tensor (DT) imaging has the potential to allow for the in vivo imaging of tracts within the brain, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has the capability of imaging chemical compounds (such as neurotransmitter metabolites)–just to name two.

As we open our Krasnow brain imaging center, I hope that we’ll do more than fMRI. Ultimately I believe it will be a fusion of data that will yield the most important clues in the non-invasive human brain imaging field. Imagine the power of EEG data collected real time with the BOLD signal (the dependent variable in functional MRI) and simultaneously with MRS data related to glutamate and GABA….at that point you begin to force the brain to yield up something more than clues, no?

Jim