Ethics in fMRI Studies*

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has surfaced as a powerful method to study brain function in humans. While the involvement of neuroradiologists in fMRI studies in the clinical setting is obvious, in neuroscience research most of the investigators are not specialists trained in reading brain images. Advances in neuroimaging are increasingly intersecting with issues of ethical, legal, and social interest. Debate on fMRI is starting, mainly under the impetus of a new interdisciplinary field, neuroethics. The objective of this review is to bring forth reflection and discussion about ethical issues regarding fMRI, with emphasis to the perspective of the neuroradiologist. EMBASE® and MEDLINE® were searched for articles pertaining to ethics in fMRI, between 1991 and 2007. A total of 42 articles were retrieved, 95% published in the last 6 years. Only 10% were published in radiology journals. The major potential ethical issues identified in the reviewed articles concerned recruitment of vulnerable groups; informed consent; incidental findings; limitations of the technique, interpretation and validity of results; risks and safety; confidentiality and privacy; fMRI applications outside the laboratory (presurgical planning; diagnostic and predictive potential; forensic, security, military and commercial use); and public communication of research results. Not all the identified issues in this review were directly relevant to neuroradiologists in particular, but for sure some did. Neuroradiologists must find the time and energy to have an important role in identifying and solving ethical (and related) issues in fMRI, working in collaboration with ethicists, social scientists, clinicians, neuroscience researchers, patients, healthy volunteers, journalists, marketers, lawyers, and policy makers. ZusammenfassungDie funktionale Magnetresonanztomographie (fMRT) hat sich als überzeugende Methode zum Studium der menschlichen Gehirnfunktion erwiesen. Während das Engagement der Neuroradiologen bei fMRI-Studien im klinischen Rahmen auf der Hand liegt, sind die meisten Forscher in der Neurowissenschaft keine Fachleute für die Auswertung der Bildgebung des Gehirns. Die Fortschritte in der Neuroradiologie tangieren zunehmend ethische, rechtliche und soziale Interessen. Es gibt bereits Diskussionen über fMRI, hauptsächlich vor dem Hintergrund eines neuen interdisziplinären Fachgebiets, der Neuroethik. Ziel dieser Übersicht ist es, Überlegungen und Diskussionen über ethische Fragen hinsichtlich der fMRT anzustellen, mit Betonung der Perspektive des Neuroradiologen. EMBASE® und MEDLINE® wurden nach Artikeln durchsucht, welche in der Zeit zwischen 1991 und 2007 erschienen sind und sich auf die Ethik in der fMRT beziehen. Insgesamt fanden sich 42 Artikel, von denen 95% in den letzten 6 Jahren publiziert wurden. Lediglich 10% der Artikel sind in radiologischen Fachzeitschriften erschienen. Die in den untersuchten Artikeln identifizierten wichtigsten, potentiell ethischen Fragen betrafen die Rekrutierung gefährdeter Gruppen, Patiente...

Neuroethics 1995–2012. A Bibliometric Analysis of the Guiding Themes of an Emerging Research Field

“…Our empirical, bottom-up analysis revealed not only a constant quantitative increase in the neuroethics literature over the years but also a constant relative size of the different subject categories. Hence, our study confirmed for neuroethics as a whole what has been reported by previous studies with a more limited focus (Seixas and Ayres Basto, 2008; Lombera and Illes, 2009; Garnett et al, 2011; Gooray and Ferguson, 2013). It also shows that most issues now discussed under the label of Neuroethics have indeed gained much more attention since the middle of the 2000s than they have gained in the antecedent decade and that the issues as such are not new and have not changed much over the years.…”

“…These investigations will help to highlight the main differences and similarities of neuroethics and adjoining scientific disciplines and contribute to a better understanding of the current state of neuroethics. Previous bibliometric work on this field has drawn on much smaller subsets of literature (Racine, 2010; Gooray and Ferguson, 2013), has addressed only very particular research fields within the much broader spectrum of neuroethics literature (Seixas and Ayres Basto, 2008; Lombera and Illes, 2009; Garnett et al, 2011, 2013; Boelsen, 2016) or has provided structured compilations of neuroethics literature without any quantitative further analysis (Buniak et al, 2014; Darragh et al, 2015). With this paper we offer the first comprehensive empirical analysis of the development and current state of neuroethics.…”

Neuroethics and fMRI: Mapping a Fledgling Relationship

“…We took as a starting point Seixas and Basto's (2008) bibliometrics analysis of neuroethics, the only other study of this nature to date [43] . Although Seixas and Basto's (2008) focus was on impact factor and nation of origin, and on issues affecting radiologists [43] , we revisited their coding guide to provide continuity for the present content analysis.…”

Responsible Reporting: Neuroimaging News in the Age of Responsible Research and Innovation

“…Still, there remains a disjunction. Neuroscientists in our research argued for ‘balanced’ reporting, which to them means adequate attention to opportunities on the one hand, and limitations and caveats on the other (Seixas and Basto 2008 ). However, the emerging RRI community, emphasises consideration of the wider aspects of technology development, such as societal implementation, ethical acceptability and social desirability (see Fig.…”