RSSA Conference: The Lack of Ubiquitous Neuroimaging Research in Saudi Arabia: Rarity or Ignorance?

Abstract

Objectives:  Neuroimaging is generally one of the most sophisticated research areas in the field of neuroscience, and MRI is an important tool in neuroimaging research that allows for the generation of additional information about the structure and function of the human brain. However, there are few neuroimaging research studies in Saudi Arabia, although the precise number of these studies has not yet been measured. This study is conducted to analyze the number of neuroscience publications in Saudi Arabia, with a particular focus on Jeddah, while analysing the lack of ubiquitous neuroimaging in the country.

Subject and Methods: This is a retrospective study based on a systematic search using primary resources, including google scholar, PubMed, and Saudi Library. The study aimed to identify all of the neuroscience and neuroimaging articles that were published in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between 2014 and 2019. An online questionnaire was sent to a sample of 72 employees in the medical field in multiple cities in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire focused on understanding their knowledge of the field and the difficulties of neuroimaging research and attempted to summarise the reasons for the deficiency of using MRI in neurological research.

Results: This study established that there was a total of 104 neuroscience and neuroimaging papers over 6 years; however, only 11 papers were neuroimaging publications. The survey showed that 87% of participants had an interest in the research and the clinical applications of neuroimaging. It also showed that 83% of the sample would prefer using MRI to other modalities in neuroimaging research. The study then finds that the reseasons for this deficiency are a lack of knowledge about advanced MRI techniques that could support neurological research and the lack of opportunities to utilize them.

Conclusion: A review of the previous publications illustrated the paucity of using neuroimaging in neuroscience research; this is preventing these techniques from being utilized with maximum benefit. Most of the participants in this study have knowledge and experience of some MRI tools and recommend using these to enhance the quality of neuroimaging works.