Brain Imaging Alone Cannot be Used To Diagnose Autism

In a recent study that was published in the journal Nature, researchers claimed that brain imaging alone is not a tool that can guarantee the diagnosis of autism.

In the recent past many reports have been published that brain imaging can be very effective in diagnosing autism. However, in a report by McLean Hospital biostatistician Nicholas Lange, ScD, Lange stated that brain imaging scans alone is not very helpful in diagnosing autism and has urges doctors to conduct large, long-term multicenter studies to diagnose this disorder.

"Several studies in the past two years have claimed that brain scans can diagnose autism, but this assertion is deeply flawed," said Lange, an associate professor of Psychiatry and Biostatistics at Harvard Medical School. "To diagnose autism reliably, we need to better understand what goes awry in people with the disorder. Until its solid biological basis is found, any attempt to use brain imaging to diagnose autism will be futile."

While stating that brain imaging scans are not useful in the diagnosis of this disorder, Lange is quick to admit that this tool could be very useful for doctors to understand more about autism.

Lange also states that researchers have made important discoveries related to early brain enlargement in the disorder, how those with autism focus during social interaction and the role of serotonin in someone with autism.

"Brain scans have led to these extremely valuable advances, and, with each discovery, we are getting closer to solving the autism pathology puzzle," said Lange. "What individuals with autism and their parents urgently need is for us to carry out large-scale studies that lead us to find reliable, sensitive and specific biological markers of autism with high predictive value that allow clinicians to identify interventions that will improve the lives of people with the disorder."