The discovery of the X-ray by Wilhem Conrad Röntgen in 1895 marked the beginning of an era in which the body no longer needed to be opened to obtain information on its anatomy and structure. The application of MRI to the brain marks a further imaging revolution, providing insights into its structure and function even superceding those obtained from invasive techniques: it is now the MR imaging, and not the anatomical examination that determines and enriches our knowledge of human brain anatomy. This is even more true for functional and physiological investigation of the human brain, for which MRI has opened the way to near-infinite possibilities for neuroscience.Within the clinical setting, another revolution is now eagerly awaited: for diagnosing the majority of neurological diseases histopathological or molecular examination of tissue is still considered the gold standard. This requires either invasive procedures – such as for neuro-oncological disease – or means that diagnosis can only be considered ‘probable’ at best, such as is the case for most neurodegenerative diseases. Advances in MRI probing tissue at the microstructural level pave the way towards the development of so-called virtual biopsy. Novel, quantitative MRI techniques combined with machine learning (‘radiomics’) have the potential to spark this next revolution with incredible impact on clinical practice to replace surgical with virtual biopsy.

Acknowledgements

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References

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