Air date: August 22, 2010

Host: Jeremy Shere, PhD

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Did you Know? is presented by Wishard Health Services, becoming Eskenazi Health in 2014.

Did you know that a new brain scan may be able to help diagnose autism?

Autism is typically diagnosed by observing behavior--a laborious, subjective process that can result in autism spectrum disorders going undetected for years.

Now, researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry in London have created a brain scan to detect subtle differences in the brains of people with autism.

To test the method, the researchers studied 59 adult male subjects--20 diagnosed autism, 19 with ADHD, and the remaining 20 with normal brains. They first assessed subjects via traditional methods, including IQ tests and psychiatric interviews. The subjects then underwent brain scans, which were 90 percent accurate in identifying autism.

Other autism researchers have cautioned that more trials need to be done to test the scan’s effectiveness on children. But they’re hopeful that the scan may prove to be a useful tool for detecting autism early on.

And now you know.

Additional Resources:

• Read more about brain scans that diagnose autism at Medical News Today.