A current perspective of the status of understanding BOLD imaging and its use in studying brain function: a summary of the workshop at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 26-28 October, 2000

In summary, the development of a basic understanding of the brain's physiology will require continued experimental innovation and development of new concepts in fMRI. With this enhanced knowledge will come new applications perhaps well outside the scope of what we currently think of as the neuroscience realm of fMRI where new clinical applications may develop that might include the study of: vascular development in children, vascular dementia in aging and Alzheimer's disease, tumour oxygenation and its role in treating disease, or a complete vascular map of the brain. Much remains to be discovered.