Diagnostic Brain Scans: Hope or Hype?

In the past year, several studies have suggested that brain scans could soon help clinicians diagnose autism.Many experts disagree, saying these scans are far from — and may never be — ready for use as diagnostic tests."[Scans] give us insight into underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity, rather than actual diagnosis," says Joseph Piven, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The diagnostic angle "is so naïve and oversold," Piven says. "It kind of misses the point of what this research should be about."Advocates often claim that brain imaging could offer a more objective way to diagnose autism than behavioral tests, which cost around $1,000 per child and cannot definitively diagnose the disorder before age 3. A diagnostic scan could conceivably identify signs of the disorder in the first year of life for a comparable price.The studies in question compare brain activity of children with autism to that of healthy children and pinpoint distinctive patterns, or 'signatures', in the autism groups. The research runs the gamut of technologies, from scanners that trace the shape of brain structures and neural connections to scalp electrodes that measure split-second blips in brain waves.Read more at...SFARI, June 2011.