Brain imaging articles within Nature Reviews Neurology

Featured

  • Year in Review |

    In 2011, researchers used imaging techniques to investigate brain microbleeds in patients with dementia and highlighted how lobar microbleeds could be used as a marker for amyloid pathology and for predicting mortality. New guidelines on the inclusion and exclusion of participants with microbleeds in anti-amyloid clinical trials were also published.

    • Philip Scheltens
    •  & Jeroen D. C. Goos
  • Review Article |

    Intracranial arterial aneurysms can pose life-threatening risks to patients, so understanding the cause and the progression of these lesions is important for choosing the right treatment. This Review argues that aneurysms are a symptom of an underlying vascular disease rather than constituting a disease on their own. The authors classify intracranial aneurysms by vessel wall pathology and demonstrate that knowledge of the morphology and pathology of this structure is important in determining the therapeutic approach.

    • Timo Krings
    • , Daniel M. Mandell
    •  & Franz-Josef Hans
  • News & Views |

    Perinatal brain injury is associated with a substantial risk of long-term disability. A recent study has shown that the severity of injury to the deep nuclear gray matter and brainstem, determined by early MRI, correlates with the risk of death and/or cerebral palsy at 2 years.

    • Terrie E. Inder
  • Review Article |

    Neurocysticercosis (caused by infection with the tapewormTaenia solium) is a major cause of acquired seizures and epilepsy worldwide. Nash and Garcia describe the different types of neurocysticercosis infection and discuss the role of the host inflammatory response in disease pathology. They also highlight recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, including the limitations of current therapies.

    • Theodore E. Nash
    •  & Hector H. Garcia
  • News & Views |

    Othello syndrome, as demonstrated by Shakespeare's fictional character of that name, describes individuals with severe delusional jealousy. Retrospective analysis of data from patients with this syndrome suggests that it is frequently associated with neurological disorders, particularly those affecting the right frontal lobe. What are the implications of these findings?

    • Richard Camicioli
  • Review Article |

    Research in neurodegenerative disease is generating vast neuroimaging data sets, necessitating the development of powerful new e-infrastructures for data collection, storage, access and analysis. In this article, Frisoni et al. provide an overview of the currently available e-infrastructures—LONI, neuGRID and CBRAIN—and consider how computational neuroscience in neurodegenerative disease might evolve in the future.

    • Giovanni B. Frisoni
    • , Alberto Redolfi
    •  & Alan C. Evans
  • Review Article |

    Age-associated white matter lesions are commonly observed in patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease, and are expected to contribute to the clinical symptoms in this condition. Bohnen and Albin review the literature addressing the occurrence and effects of white matter lesions in Parkinson disease, as well as describing existing and emerging methods for studying white matter pathology.

    • Nicolaas I. Bohnen
    •  & Roger L. Albin
  • Review Article |

    Much is still to be learned regarding how nociceptive stimuli, genes and various other factors influence the generation and maintenance of pain. In this article, Irene Tracey examines possible neuroimaging endophenotypes of pain that could act as measurable markers of this condition. Such markers would assist both the management of and research into acute and chronic pain.

    • Irene Tracey
  • Review Article |

    Memory impairment is a major complicating feature of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and our understanding of such cognitive disorders has been enhanced by the study of anterior temporal lobectomy outcomes. In this Review, Bell and colleagues examine the changing view of TLE, and explore the anatomical abnormalities that underlie cognitive impairments that extend beyond memory function.

    • Brian Bell
    • , Jack J. Lin
    •  & Bruce Hermann
  • Opinion |

    Labate et al. argue that benign mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (bMTLE)—defined as at least 24 months of seizure freedom with or without antiepileptic medication—has been under-recognized because of a bias in the literature towards refractory forms of epilepsy. Here, the authors discuss emerging concepts on bMTLE, some of which were formulated during an international workshop held in Italy.

    • Angelo Labate
    • , Antonio Gambardella
    •  & Frederick Andermann
  • Case Study |

    Extreme hypoglycorrhachia is usually caused by bacterial meningitis; however, suspicion should be raised if a patient with persistent extreme hypoglycorrhachia, pleocytosis and negative microbiological studies remains refractory to antimicrobial therapy. Viola describes the case of a 55-year-old man with chronic leptomeningitis and persistent hypoglycorrhachia, who was found to have Currarino syndrome. This syndrome is a complex genetic disorder that includes the following triad: sacral bony defect, presacral mass, and an anorectal malformation. Leptomeningitis in this patient was attributed to cholesterol crystals contained in a large presacral cyst with a communicating fistula to the CNS.

    • George M. Viola
  • Review Article |

    Surgical intervention can represent an effective treatment for some patients with medically refractory epilepsy. In this Review, Duncan explores the various imaging techniques that can be used in epilepsy surgery to identify the epileptic source and/or to reduce the risk of surgery-related morbidity. In addition to examining established clinical practice, Duncan highlights recent advances in this field.

    • John S. Duncan