[What are the psychiatrist's expectations from nuclear magnetic resonance tomography and spectroscopy?]

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain has several advantages over CAT-scans (CT). MRI will gradually replace CAT-scans for most of the diagnostic examinations in psychiatry. MRI has an advantage in detecting discrete lesions of the brain. This is demonstrated by a review of MRI studies with schizophrenic and alcohol dependent patients. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is suitable for the in-vivo investigation of brain functions. MRS might provide the greatest advantage for future research in psychiatry. This is demonstrated by different studies, where the concentration and the kinetics of psychopharmacological agents in the brain were measured in-vivo.