Role of functional imaging in neurological disorders

Neuroimaging in recent years has greatly contributed to our understanding of a wide range of aspects related to central neurological diseases. These include the classification and localization of disease, such as in headache; the understanding of pathology, such as in Parkinson's disease (PD); the mechanisms of reorganization, such as in stroke and multiple sclerosis (MS); and the subclinical progress of disease, such as in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Apart from presurgical mapping, however, the clinical applications so far are limited. Nevertheless, functional imaging does enable the formulation of neurobiological hypotheses that can be tested clinically, and thus is well suited for testing classic clinical hypotheses about how the brain works. Understanding the mechanisms and sites of pathology, such as has been achieved in cluster headaches, facilitates the development of new therapeutic strategies.