Diagnosing depression in less than an hour using an ‘ECG for the mind’

Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) cost upwards of US$2 trillion globally every year and affect one in four people in their lifetime. At present, diagnosing these conditions relies on a process of questions and interviews with the patient, which means it can take many years for sufferers to be correctly diagnosed. A new diagnostic technique that measures the patterns of electrical activity in the brain’s vestibular (or balance) system could dramatically fast-track the detection of mental and neurological illnesses.

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, biomedical engineer Brian Lithgow saw the diagnostic potential of measuring and comparing different patterns of electrovestibular activity because the brain’s vestibular system is closely connected to the primitive regions of the brain that relate to emotions and behavior. By measuring the patterns of electrical activity in the brain’s vestibular against distinct response patterns found in depression, schizophrenia and other CNS disorders, Lithgow was able to develop electrovestibulography, which is something akin to an “ECG for the mind”.

Read more . . .

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Tags: adhd, attention deficit hyperactivity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, balance system, central nervous system, diagnosing depression, diagnostic technique, ecg, electrical activity, lithgow, neurological illnesses, schizophrenia, university melbourne, vestibular system

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am and is filed under Cutting-edge Research, Health, Innovation, Medicine, gizmag. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.