ABSTRACT
In the last decades, technological innovations have provided a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurological disorders. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has evolved into functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with the ability to discern changes in cerebral function with good temporal resolution. Increases in spatial resolution of positron-emission tomography (PET) and singlephoton emission computed tomography (SPECT), associated with the development of new radiotracers, have also allowed novel approaches to the study of disease. The impact of such advances is particularly pronounced in the fields of movement disorders (MDs) and epilepsy. The investigation of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dystonia has benefited substantially from this more widely available technology. In PD, functional imaging is useful in detecting dopaminergic cell loss and changes in cerebral metabolic rates during the performance of behavioral or motor tasks. As for the various forms of dystonia, imaging has corroborated what was suggested in clinical and pathological investigations: instead of a single pathologic focus, dystonia is the consequence of dysfunction in the cortico-subcortical networks of sensorimotor control, in which the basal ganglia represent only one of the players.
