Brain Imaging Problems

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orangeman25

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Does anyone know why brain images are position oppositely? If you are looking at a brain MRI, why is the Right labeled side actually the left side of the brain?

This may not strictly be a pre-allo question but I was hesitant of posting elsewhere because I am still very much PRE-anything

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Does anyone know why brain images are position oppositely? If you are looking at a brain MRI, why is the Right labeled side actually the left side of the brain?

This may not strictly be a pre-allo question but I was hesitant of posting elsewhere because I am still very much PRE-anything

I believe the standard is that you see the images as if the patients feet are coming towards you (for axial images). Making the right side of their body on the left side of your screen.
 
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I think that when we say "right," we actually mean a patient's right, not our right.
 
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I believe the standard is that you see the images as if the patients feet are coming towards you (for axial images). Making the right side of their body on the left side of your screen.

Yes, I guess that makes for more of a "personable" feel when a physician analyzes images. I just believe it would be more simple the other way around.
 
All imaging modalities are labeled this way in reference to the correct patient's side. When the patient is facing you the right side of their body will be on your left side.

Believe me, it will become second nature to you.
 
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In general you could be looking at a patient from any angle, so making "right" and "left" relative to the patient and not the doctor makes it so there is no confusion. It also removes confusion when talking to the patient.
 
It's the difference between Radiological (right is left) and Neurological (right is right) convention. The MRI you were looking at was using the radiological convention.

Maybe this is an issue more for research rather than the clinical setting, but between neuroimaging software, it's not always consistent so it's important to keep track of how your specific software presents your data (for example, from what I remember, FSL is radiological while SPM5 is neurological). There will always be, however, a small R or L to indicate which side of the brain you're looking at if you get confused. I blame research for my persistent mistakes in telling right from left in real life :p
 
What? The neurologist and radiologist use the same conventions.

I don't think the terms radiological and neurological conventions respectively refer to radiology and neurology. Rather, they're just coincidentally named conventions in the imaging field that arose during the early days of MRI when there wasn't a unified way of presenting data. Apparently, though, based on this thread, it's more of a research (*cough* SPM) issue than anything -- the physicians seem to have it figured out :laugh:
 
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