Can brain scans or imaging tests help with the bipolar diagnosis?
While doctors don’t rely on brain scans or imaging tests for making a bipolar diagnosis, some high tech neuroimaging tests may help doctors make specific psychiatric diagnoses and also see how the body metabolizes a drug the patient is being given for treatment. Neuroimaging techniques are increasingly used to study the regional pharmacokinetics of medications, including lithium and anticonvulsants, and to understand the specific changes in neurotransmission that go along with disease remission. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, recent studies show that electroencephalograms (EEGs) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the brain can reveal differences between bipolar disorder and related behavioral syndromes, which may cause the same symptoms in children.
