Problems and perspectives of diagnostic imaging: the pineal region

In 1970 the state of the art in neuroradiological diagnosis was considered satisfactory enough, if not almost perfect, by the people working in this field. But when a few years later Computerized Tomography appeared, a new impressive standard in neuroradiological resolution was achieved, moreover with a non-invasive method. In the '80 further improvement was brought by several striking new diagnostic technologies, such as Magnetic Resonance, Positron Emission Tomography and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography which allow the physician to achieve a new standard in non-invasive high resolution neuro-imaging which was simply unbelievable a few years ago. A new era is now beginning in the neuro-radiological sciences in which the new techniques surely allow the diagnosis towards disease previously escaping the neuro-radiological observation.