The upsurge of interest in basic neurobiology has influenced the clinical discipline of neurology greatly. Basic studies in virology, pharmacology, genetics, physiology, and other fields have provided information and tools to attack some of the elusive problems related to diseases of the nervous system. There are few areas in which the sought-after transfer of laboratory results to the clinic have fared so well. For clinicians who have the experience to compare the neurology of 30 or 40 years ago with that of the present, it is an exciting and gratifying time.
Magnetic resonance imaging has been used extensively enough now that comparisons can be made with other techniques, especially computed tomography. The Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association found that magnetic resonance imaging is superior to computed tomography for lesions that involve the white matter, for early hypoxic changes in the brain, and for delineating the extent