
Brain scan results reveal what your brain really looks like
By Nick SchagerPublished Feb 14, 2017 09:10:18There’s a new brain imaging tool that could help you spot brain damage in the first place.
Researchers from the University of Washington recently showed how they were able to track how a patient’s brain is developing, allowing doctors to make better diagnoses.
The team used MRI scans of patients with and without brain tumors to create a computer model of the brain.
The scans were used to analyze how the brain was evolving as it matured over time.
Using that model, the researchers were able make accurate diagnoses, and the scans were then analyzed by computer.
The results are exciting news, says Dr. Mark O’Toole, a neurologist at the University’s Department of Neurosurgery.
“It’s not like we can see the future, but we can use what we know now to guide our treatment and to make the best diagnosis possible,” O’Howle told NBC News.
“There’s not much we can do until we know more about how the cells are developing in our brains, and how they’re changing.”
The results could help people diagnosed with a range of neurological conditions and diseases like epilepsy and depression, he added.
The study was published online in the journal Neuron.
“Brain scans are the most common way to monitor how cells develop and change,” said Dr. Peter J. Reiss, a neuroscientist at Columbia University and co-author of the study.
“We are getting better at using MRI to monitor brain development in these patients and we are seeing that we can really see the difference in the changes in the brain,” he told NBC.
“But until we can accurately predict when we might see changes in these areas, we really can’t make a good diagnosis.”
Brain scan data collected from people with brain tumors in a laboratory can also be used to understand brain development, said Reiss.
The MRI scans used in the study were created using the technology called MNI-Tek, a portable, low-cost computer and software tool that’s used to track brain development.
The research is the latest in a series of efforts by researchers to create the MRI scanner that can help doctors better understand how the human brain develops.
Researchers in the US have created a version of the tool that is cheaper than the MNI Tek system, and it can be used by more people.
The tool can detect brain damage up to a month before MRI scans can be done, and can show signs of damage as early as two weeks before the scans can begin.
The tool can also detect changes in blood flow, nerve activity, and other physiological parameters that are normally seen in brain scans.
For this new study, the UW team used the MNRIs, or MNI Scanning Electron Microscope, to create three different versions of the model of brain tissue in the MRI scans.
“When we compared the different MRI images, we could see what the cells were growing in, what they were doing, and what the structures looked like in different regions of the brains,” Reiss said.
“What we can’t see in MRI is how much tissue there is in the entire brain, so we’re using a computer simulation to help us determine what that is.”
The scientists found that the MNF-T kit was able to differentiate between areas of the same brain that were growing more slowly and areas of tissue that were more rapidly developing.
“That’s what we want to do, to understand how to detect changes of tissue in this brain and how to make an accurate diagnosis,” Reuss said.
This kind of information is important because it can help physicians determine which patients are most at risk for developing a disease and how the body’s immune system reacts to tumors.
“The goal of the MNT is to help physicians better identify when tumors develop, and we’re doing that through this MRI system,” he said.
When MRI scans reveal damage, it is not the only way to tell whether a person has a disease or condition.
In the case of epilepsy, doctors may also be able to identify the presence of other brain abnormalities that could be related to seizures.
“If we can learn about the changes that are occurring in the brains of these patients, we can start to develop treatments that can reduce the incidence of seizures and improve the quality of life,” Otho said.
The technique is particularly useful for people with epilepsy who are not at risk from other causes of seizures.
Dr. Jennifer K. Daugherty, a clinical neurologist and professor at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said the MIRS technology could be used for a range other diseases.
“One of the main purposes of this technology is to study brain development and to help people make better diagnostic and therapeutic decisions about their epilepsy,” she told NBCNews.
“In this case, the MRI technology is really useful because we can get a good look at brain tissue, the brain is changing, and then we can make the right