NEURORADIOLOGY- PROS & CONS, SCOPE OF THE FIELD

Charbi Gupta

MBBS FINAL YEAR-2, GOVERNMENT MEDICAL COLLEGE PATIALA

PROS OF NEURORADIOLOGY

1. Neuroradiology has significantly revolutionized the diagnostic and treatment approach towards the pathologies of central nervous system which can now be predicted easily based on the changes in radiological images and use of artificial intelligence in neurology.
2. Medical imaging technologies like X-ray, USG, MRI & CT helps ensure patients receive a thorough diagnosis, allowing them to save time and focus on treatment options.
3. Neuroplasticity i.e. the brain’s capacity to adapt to internal and external environmental changes is an important component of skill acquisition and functional development in a person following a neurological injury. Detecting neuroplasticity using fMRI is critical for understanding a variety of processes such as memory, learning, and injury healing.
4. Some neuroradiologists are also trained to perform spine intervention procedures that treat neck and back pain.

 CONS OF NEURORADIOLOGY:

1. Although Neuroradiology has proven to be immensely useful in urgent findings, the acuity depends chiefly on the process of image reviewing by the concerned neuroradiologist. Neuroradiology has a unique nature ascribable to its wide scope of diseases with diverse set of signs that can be grave if missed or misinterpreted, particularly in urgent settings. The resultant misinterpretation can result in profound delay in medical treatment with potential harm and medico-legal consequences.
2. Use of Neurotechnology in a fallacious way can also produce undesirable changes in a person.
3. Radiation exposure can lead to development of carcinomas and other health problems. Additionally, the chemicals used for development of an x-ray film can be hazardous in some cases.

SCOPE OF NEURORADIOLOGY

Currently, neuroradiology as a part of radiology has a unique nature ascribable to its wide scope of diseases with a diverse set of signs. The common neurological pathologies are as follows:

• ischaemic stroke (13; 35%),
• intracranial haemorrhage (10; 27%) and
• mild cognitive impairment and dementia, including subtypes such as Alzheimer’s disease (7; 19%), multiple sclerosis (4; 11%), tumour (4; 11%), traumatic brain injury (3; 8%), Parkinson’s disease (2; 5%) and intracranial aneurysm (1; 3%).

As with any big change, this shift in medicine presents both challenges and opportunities, and to flourish in this new environment we will have to adapt. It is difficult to foretell exactly how neuroradiology will evolve in this switching landscape, but there will be changes in both what we image and what we do. The payoff is that these changes may align neuroradiology with the emerging field of precision psychiatry, which promises to replace symptom-based diagnosis with diagnosis based on quantifiable imaging, physiologic, and behavioural criteria and therapies targeted to the particular pathophysiology of individual patients.

REFRENCES:

1. American Society of Neuroradiology (2017) “What is Neuroradiology?” www.asnr.org. Accessed February 7, 2019.
2. Berlin L. Radiologic Errors and Malpractice: A Blurry Distinction. Am J Roentgenol. 2007 Sep 1;189(3):517–22.
3.  Medicine I of, America C on Q of HC in. To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. National Academies Press; 2000. 312 p.
4. Mateos-Aparicio P, Rodríguez-Moreno A. The Impact of Studying Brain Plasticity. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. 2019
5. Vizioli L, Yacoub E, Lewis LD. How pushing the spatiotemporal resolution of fMRI can advance neuroscience. Progress in neurobiology.2021