ADHD Brain Scans

[Greg1982]

Thank you! That's been driving me nuts not being able to figure it out haha.

[Dizfriz]

Originally Posted by Greg1982

I apologize for being so vague earlier. Organizing my thoughts to reflect what I'm actually thinking is something I'm still working on and I should have clarified myself a little better. I haven't found anything to back up Dr. Amen's claims of using brain scans to diagnose specific types of ADHD. I have, however, found data that other people have gathered showing that it is possible to diagnose ADHD using brain scans(specifically EEG), but again, nothing to support the specificity theory of Dr. Amen.

Nice post, you put quite a bit of work into it.

One small point, the EGG is not a brain scan. It is a method that records brain electrical activity.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography

Electroencephalography (EEG) is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain

Some of these, especially the QEEG, show some real promise as I understand it but are not yet validated for primary diagnostic purposes. Hopefully they may prove out in the future.

Dizfriz

[Greg1982]

Thanks for the link. I will refrain from calling the EEG a "scan" from now on and correctly reference it as a "test." I certainly don't want to be the cause of any more confusion.

I've never personally been a fan of wikipedia for good solid information. Sure, there is some really good stuff in there but I just can't get myself to 100% trust it. I don't mean any offense it's just a personal preference.

I try to stick with anything related to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or peer reviewed articles. This explanation of EEG within the umbrella of the NIH mentions that an abnormal EEG can suggest attention problems. I didn't notice anything mentioned in the Wiki article but it's entirely possible I missed it.

Abnormal results on an EEG test may be due to:

• Abnormal bleeding (hemorrhage)
• An abnormal structure in the brain (such as a brain tumor)
• Attention problems
• Tissue death due to a blockage in blood flow (cerebral infarction)
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Head injury
• Migraines (in some cases)
• Seizure disorder (such as epilepsy or convulsions)
• Sleep disorder (such as narcolepsy)
• Swelling of the brain (encephalitis)

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/003931.htm

The only reason I added that was not to dispute anything you posted, just to share in your hope and show that of 2/16/2012 the NIH is aware that an abnormal EEG can suggest attention issues. What that could mean is continued research and if it is concluded that an EEG can in fact be used to diagnose attention disorders then it might be possible to obtain 3rd party reimbursement from either CMS or private insurers(CMS usually plays ball first with private insurers following suit). If that happened more tests would be covered and more data would be gathered, possibly, snowballing into studies that could include specificity of diagnosis. It's pretty exciting to think about because that could then lead into providing appropriate treatment, the first time, every time, like Dr. Amen was claiming to be able to do.

^That's mostly just me thinking out loud, sorry to ramble .