A primer of neuroimaging analysis in neurorehabilitation outcome research

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wilde, Elisabeth A.^{a; b; c; d; f; *} | Hunter, Jill V.^{a; c; i} | Bigler, Erin D.^{e; f; g; h}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA | [b] Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA | [c] Department of Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA | [d] Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA | [e] Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA | [f] The Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA | [g] The Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake, UT, USA | [h] Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA | [i] Department of Pediatric Radiology, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Elisabeth A. Wilde, Ph.D., Departments of Physical Medicine, and Rehabilitation, Neurology and Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1709 Dryden Rd., Ste 1200, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Tel.: +1 713 798 7331; Fax: +1 713 798 6898; E-mail: ewilde@bcm.edu

Abstract: Although most neurological patients that enter a rehabilitation treatment program have had either a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, the utilization of neuroimaging in rehabilitation has been limited. However, a number of new MRI methods for image analysis hold great promise to better inform the neurorehabilitation clinician. The current review provides a foundation in neuroimaging fundamentals for neurorehabilitation specialists and examines the progress in using such techniques as quantitative MRI analyses, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional MRI to better understand the neurologically impaired patient.

Keywords: Neuroimaging primer and analysis, neurorehabilitation, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT)

DOI: 10.3233/NRE-2012-0793

Journal: NeuroRehabilitation, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 227-242, 2012