A large part of the contemporary literature involves functional neuroimaging. Yet few readers are sufficiently familiar with the various imaging methods, their capabilities and limitations, to appraise it correctly. To fulfill that need is the purpose of this Handbook, which consists of an accessible description of the methods and their clinical and research applications. The Handbook begins with an overview of basic concepts of functional brain imaging, magnetoencephalography and the use of magnetic source imaging (MSI), positron emission tomography (PET), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The authors then discuss the various research applications of imaging, such as white matter connectivity; the function of the default mode network; the possibility and the utility of imaging of consciousness; the search for mnemonic traces of concepts the mechanisms of the encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of memories; executive functions and their neuroanatomical mechanisms; voluntary actions, human will and decision-making; motor cognition; language and the mechanisms of affective states and pain. The final chapter discusses the uses of functional neuroimaging in the presurgical mapping of the brain.
Functional brain mapping using positron emission tomography scanning in preoperative neurosurgical planning for pediatric brain tumors