Can ADHD be diagnosed with a brain spect scan?

Answer 1

Not yet. At this point, researchers have identified certain neuronal pathways that tend to be abnormally active or inactive in individuals with ADHD, but there's not enough information yet to use it to make a diagnosis. For example, researchers have determined that patients with ADHD typically have abnormally high levels of dopamine in their brain, and that certain medications used to treat ADHD decrease dopamine activity to normal levels. However, this doesn't establish a causal link. It might be that ADHD is caused, in part or entirely, by overacitivity of the domapinergic pathways and reducing this activity is what prevents ADHD symptoms. It could also be that this overacitivity is an effect of ADHD that is not causing the symptoms. In either case, this would provide a useful diagnostic tool. However, it could also be that the domapine activity is entirely unrelated to the ADHD symptoms, and it's just that whatever gene causes the ADHD symptoms is often linked to one that causes overproduction of dopamine. In that case, a dopamine scan might accurate diagnose a majority of ADHD patients, but a patient could have excessive dopamine activity without having ADHD, or ADHD without excessive dopamine activity, so some cases would be misdiagnosed.

The point is that ADHD is caused by some abnormality or group of abnormalities in the brain, and eventually we'll be able to test for one or more of those characteristic abnormalities to make the diagnosis on a neurological basis, but first we have to conclusively identify pathways that are characteristic of the disorder, and we're simply not there yet.

At this point, the diagnosis of ADHD is still purely clinical. It's based on a description of symptoms, the results of various forms of cognitive testing, and often observation of classroom behavior in school age children. Treating ADHD is largely a matter of trial and error. Doctors prescribe one medication after another until the find one that alleviates the symptoms without causing too many side effects. Part of the reason for that is that each patient's brain chemistry is different, and there are most likely several different physiological causes of ADHD, and at this point there's no way to accurately predict which medication will be most likely to help a particular patient.

Answer 2

Daniel Amen a researcher who has looked at the brains of kids with ADD through PET Scans has seen patterns and uses it to diagnose ADD. He has a written a book. I think it is called "More than ADD". You can get it on the interenet. It is well written, easy to understand and gives lots of examples.

Answer 3

ADHD stands for interest Defecit Hyperactive ailment. My son changed into clinically determined with that when he changed into 4. He had an finished neurological exam at a community youngster's well being facility, changed into clinically determined and began taking ritalin. The replace in him changed into like nighttime and day. at the same time as he changed into in kindergarten, i changed into sitting in his type on ascertain's travelling day. the toddlers were filling out a ditto that had short words with the vowel interior the middle lacking and they had to fill interior the clean. as an instance, there turned right into a image of a dogs and next to it, it stated d_g and they had to fill interior the lacking letter. there changed into an finished web page of this. My son did very well (below the impact of his medicine) and changed into between the first youthful toddlers to finish the ditto and stated the instructor's education to exhibit interior the ditto and positioned his pencil away. I watched him for a lengthy time period and then I went to a distinct lecture room to work out my daughter. After a lengthy time period, I went back to work out my son and his medicine changed into beginning to positioned on off. They were doing an same workout with words and he ought to no longer finished the ditto. He looked like he did not understand the solutions and were given very pissed off and began crying. He changed into like a thoroughly distinct new child and ought to no longer function interior the lecture room as he ought to easily some hours before. The well being care specialist perscribed an more advantageous dose to be supply mid-day so it ought to very last by the school day. He has achieved very well and is now in 9th grade at a prestigious inner most college. i understand human beings say that ADHD is clinically determined too in many circumstances and medicine is given too immediately yet for some youthful toddlers, i imagine that's critical. If my son hadn't been on the medicine, he probable ought to were in a particular education type yet really he's getting solid grades at an fairly tricky college. i ought to point that you seek for suggestion from along with your son's pediatrician about it. solid luck!

Answer 4

No The diagnosis of ADHD is based on the behavior,No scans can detect ADHD.

Answer 5

i don't think it normally is.. but ADHD causes fluctuation of brain patterns and chemistry.. so i don't see why you couldn't diagnose it that way.

Answer 6

technically it could, but itd be far more cost efficient to just do the written tests and meet with a therapist