Dr. Ron Leslie explores images’ potential to improve psychiatric and neurological diagnoses
Dr. Ron Leslie says that brain imaging will become an increasingly powerful tool in diagnosing and treating psychiatric and neurological disorders. He uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in combination with other techniques to study how the brain works. “We currently have only a primitive understanding of how the brain behaves in specific disorders such as psychosis, depression and addiction,” says Dr. Leslie, professor and head of the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at Dalhousie Medical School.
Thanks to improved imaging technologies, researchers and clinicians are able to watch the brain in action and assess which brain regions are working properly. Dr. Leslie and his collaborators in several departments of the medical school are studying how the brain malfunctions when a person has a specific psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorder. “Specialized brain imaging – together with traditional clinical assessments – could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses of brain disorders, resulting in earlier treatment and better outcomes” he says.
Several of Dr. Leslie’s studies focus on the disruption of the sense of smell in disorders such as Parkinson's disease. “The key questions are: when and why do these disruptions occur during the course of the illness?” notes Dr. Leslie.
One useful technique is diffusion-weighted MRI, a method that detects changes in the white matter (nerve circuits) within the brain. “We now know that in certain brain disorders there are differences in circuits of parts of the brain controlling the sense of smell,” says Dr. Leslie. “Early detection of these may help to predict and diagnose disorders such as psychosis or Parkinson's disease.” Such early detection – before symptoms become obvious – opens the door to early intervention and the potential to prevent the disease from progressing.