ABSTRACT
Neuroimaging is central to the diagnostic process in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Neuroimaging, particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is uniquely powerful in identifying tumors and other lesions of the brain, spinal cord, or nerve roots that can masquerade as ALS. High-quality MRI of these structures is widely available and most patients with suspected ALS have MRI scans of the brain and/or spinal cord, although this may not always be necessary. Prior to the advent of neuroimaging, there was limited scope for understanding the nature and importance of the cerebral lesions in ALS. The development of neuroimaging techniques in the past 30 years has permitted the detailed study of brain pathology in vivo, and has revolutionized the study of neurologic diseases more than any other single development. Conventional techniques that can be applied in almost all modern neuroimaging units include T1- and T2–weighted images, proton density-weighted images and fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR)-weighted images.
