The article also discusses seeing the effects of medication using this scanning technique, seeing differences in the brains of schizophrenics, and the possibilities of using this scanning technique as a diagnostic method. One study showed that stimulant medications can help in brain development in children with ADD!
FuturePundit: MRI DTI Brain Scans
A fairly new type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), has been used to examine the brains of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and ADHD children were found to have abnormal fiber pathways that connect the different parts of the brain.
CHICAGO – Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display anatomical brain abnormalities beyond chemical imbalance, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Stimulant medications prescribed to balance brain chemistry appear to normalize some of these brain irregularities, a second study reported.
"We found abnormality of the fiber pathways in the frontal cortex, basal ganglia, brain stem and cerebellum," said lead author of both studies, Manzar Ashtari, PhD., associate professor of radiology and psychiatry at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y.
"These areas are involved in the processes that regulate attention, impulsive behavior, motor activity, and inhibition--the key symptoms in ADHD children," Dr. Ashtari said. "They are also known to be part of a bigger circuit in the brain that establishes communication between the frontal lobe and cerebellum."
