A highly technical study with remarkably optimistic rates of accuracy for confirming a diagnosis of PTSD was explained in Scientific American. Magnetoencephelography (MEG), faster than an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), measured brain activity in people suspected of PTSD by standard psychological testing.
"For 72 of the 74 patients previously diagnosed with PTSD, MEG scans detected a pattern of neural communications that was different from the healthy participants, but shared among the PTSD group. On the flip side, 31 of the 250 healthy patients had abnormal scan results."MEG equipment runs about $2 million so it will remain inaccessible beyond a couple of dozen sites for the immediate future. But researchers expressed optimism that it will not only expand. IIn addition to aiding diagnosis, it will also monitor therapeutic changes, says one of the study authors, University of Minnesota's Brian Engdahl.
