MRI for autism diagnosis?

I've been reading about how there was a study that could diagnose autism using MRI scans of the brain. This doesn't seem to be part of the normal diagnosis process yet. (?)

I had an MRI aout 10 years ago, long before I ever thought about autism. The clinic still has my scans. Is it worth requesting them to be posted to me? Is there any point? I have my second assessment appointment next week.

  • If accuracy can be fixed, then I think it would be much cheaper. It takes less than 5 minutes to do a T1 structural scan at 1mm resolution. Filling in safety forms and preparing to go in would take longer, but they don't need to have psychiatrists or psychologists supervising you to do that. They could easily see over 20 people a day. No more long waiting lists!

  • Oh - not as expensive as I thought & yep probably cheaper than assessment. I was trying to guess internal economics of NHS but not putting any real effort into numbers, just a feeling. Scanner calendar availability / prioritisation could play a part I guess, but yes accuracy would be a biggie if the science isn't there yet.

  • The study referred to was in children under 2 years old and was very uncertain. Only 15 out of 148 had changes and this was in brain development 

    There has NEVER been any indication it is of relevance to adulthood so it will be of no use to you

    www.nhs.uk/.../

  • I heard it's about 500 pounds an hour or something, so it might be cheaper than a private assessment. Also one can easily get an MRI scan for free by taking part in research studies. But I think the main issue is that the accuracy of MRI diagnosis is not high enough. 

  • I'm sure cost plays a part - I imagine that MRI scans are expensive?

  • I would guess that it is because almost everyone has a list of comorbidities, it is difficult to pinpoint some feature and say it is a clearcut case; something which has already been said about DNA tests. In both cases, I daresay they will eventually unravel all the multiple strands of evidence. But it is likely to be years coming; by which time, both scans and tests will also be greatly improved.

  • I've been reading about how there was a study that could diagnose autism using MRI scans of the brain.

    I don't think this method has been shown to be infallible, as some who are autistic have not been shown to exhibit the brain characteristics on an MRI scan, and others who are not autistic do exhibit the brain scan characteristics.

    But it is probably a good start.  I too had an MRI scan, in my case after a knock to the head.  I was not told if it showed anything untoward in any way, they must have seen something though because I was retained in hospital for observation afterwards.  But autism was not mentioned by either me or them (although at that time I did suspect I was autistic due to a very high score in an AQ test.

    There is no 'proof' of autism from the scans to my understanding.  The correlation is being investigated, so as such I do not know whether it would be of use but they may not be since investigation into this is continuing

  • It might be worth asking, it has been used in a study I think but the results were not conclusive enough for it to be adopted for mainstream diagnosis