#108: Imagery for Neurology, Installment #3 [15:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (305)

Imagery and images for neurology professionals: part 2 of a 2-part mini series.

Today’s show: Second part of the interview with Dr. Daniel Amen, MD and Dr. Douglass. They discuss the accuracy of SPECT images for ‘imaging human behavior,’ and the accuracy of SPECT scans for diagnosing preclinical and clinical Alzheimer’s disease. They’ll also touch upon the potential quagmire of neuroethical issues related to the health insurance industry, particularly when insurance companies may discriminate against patients who test positive for Alzheimer’s based on SPECT neuroimaging, or based on positive tests for the APO E-4 allele (the Alzheimer’s ‘risk gene’).

For more information about SPECT scanning and the Amen Clinics: www.AmenClinics.com.

Next week’s show: It will be the first of a four-part Reap the Sleep series on Sleep Medicine - with focus on sleep apnea. We’ll interview sleep medicine experts Drs. Michael Littner and Jay Puangco.

 

 #107: Imagery for Neurology, Installment #107 [23:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (293)

Imagery and images for neurology professionals.

Today’s show: Interview with Dr. Daniel Amen, MD. SPECT scanning has dramatically changed the way Dr. Amen looks at and sees (and treats) his patients.

Psychiatrists remain the only doctors who never look at the ‘organ’ they treat (the human brain). We make psychiatric diagnoses today essentially like our predecessors did back in 1840. Might SPECT scanning change that?

‘Imaging human behavior’ with SPECT is considered a new frontier for the entire field of neuropsychiatry since we can now literally see functional imbalances in the brain, and then do what we can to try to correct those imbalances.

According to Dr. Amen, SPECT neuroimaging opens the minds of doctors who employ it, and it opens many doors for possible therapeutic options for neurobehavioral disorders (not just medications). SPECT can apparently document brain changes (improvements) from treatments like acupuncture/acupressure, hyperbaric oxygen, dietary supplements and even transcranial magnetic stimulation.

For more information about SPECT scanning and the Amen Clinics: www.AmenClinics.com.

Next week’s show: Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Daniel Amen (and Dr. William Campbell Douglass). The doctors will discuss the accuracy of SPECT images of the brain, and their accuracy for diagnosing pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease. They’ll also discuss the potential quagmire of issues related to likely discrimination by health insurance companies after people test positive for Alzheimer’s based on SPECT neuroimaging (or based on positive tests for APO E4, the Alzheimer’s risk gene).

 

 #54: Imagery for Neurology [34:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (424)

Imaging and images for neurology professionals, installment #1.

Publication Date: Jan 26, 2007.

Show Notes: Conjuring up lies in the brain changes its magnetic resonance properties - so reproducibly and consistently that functional MRI images are over 90% accurate in actually viewing those lies! With neuroimaging research, potential benefits and thorny hazards abound!

A modern-day Pandora’s Box has been opened after revealing the secrets of modern-day imaging technology, releasing its potential societal woes. We invoke ‘contemporary mythology’ to address the neuroethical challenges being raised by the new imaging technologies. There are answers to help us survive the challenges, and progress efficiently and safely with neuroimaging. In fact, the answers are the only thing remaining in the mythical ‘Pandora’s Box’! Listen to learn some answers.

Show links: For a brief history of fMRI see www.ee.duke.edu.