Images of the brain: past as prologue

The invention of the Anger scintillation camera and the development of 99mTc tracers brought about a tenfold increase in nuclear brain scanning between 1963 and 1973, an increase that plateaued with the introduction of x-ray computed tomography. A second growth curve began in 1976 at which time there were four PET centers in the United States, a number that grew to 60 worldwide over the next decade. PET, SPECT, MRI, and MRS are leading us into a new era of in vivo brain chemistry, based on regional bioenergetics and neurotransmission. The immediate impact is in epilepsy, stroke, brain tumors and the dementias, with psychiatric diseases becoming a major focus of research. Receptivity has become a biochemical as well as a psychological approach to mental functions. The finding of elevated D2 dopamine receptors in schizophrenia in living patients may be the forerunner of a new biochemical approach to psychiatry.