Professor Monte Buchsbaum, Professor of Radiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, considered a pioneer of neuroimaging technologies, said: “I believe that the drug-inspired EEG method will allow us to find the right points in the brain and match patients with appropriate pharmacological therapy.” Professor Derek Fisher from Saint Vincent University of Canada, on the other hand, explained: “With brain mapping, we can see how the brain looks with which drug, or how the drug reverses certain conditions. This provides a clue as to which drug or drugs would be more effective to start.”
With the Topographic Brain Mapping method, also known as QEEG, electrical brain activity recorded from the scalp is analyzed, providing indirect information about brain function. On the other hand, electrical activity in the brain is also recorded with Electroencephalography (EEG). So, what is the role of all this in psychiatry?
The topic came up at the 6th Basic Clinical and Multimodal Imaging (BaCI) Conference held at Üsküdar Üniversitesi NP Health Campus. Professor Monte Buchsbaum, Professor of Radiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, considered a pioneer of neuroimaging technologies, who participated in the program and was vested with an honorary doctorate gown by Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, emphasized the importance of personalized medicine.
“Personalized medicine will be the most important area of the healthcare industry”
Prof. Dr. Buchsbaum stated that schizophrenia can be treated with current technology and new drugs, but it is still not at the desired level, providing the following information:
“Personalized medicine is the gold standard for mental health. In the future, personalized medicine, reading genetic code and matching it with treatment, will be the most important developing areas in the healthcare sector. Extended human lifespan gives us successful old age years. We can read each person's genetic code, look at the physiology of each genetic message, and prescribe appropriate drugs. We don't want psychiatrists to just give an estimated drug; we want to prescribe a specifically targeted drug. Therefore, scientific measurement techniques like EEG should be used.”
“Understanding the differences in a patient with schizophrenia and depression is very important”
Underlining the importance of using EEG as a scientific measurement technique, Prof. Dr. Buchsbaum said: “People are different from each other. It is very important to determine which drug should be given to which patient. There is no room for error in psychiatry in any way. Therefore, scientific measurement techniques like EEG should be used. Understanding the differences in a patient with schizophrenia and depression is very important for us. I believe that the drug-inspired EEG method will allow us to find the right points in the brain and match patients with appropriate pharmacological therapy.”
“EEG results help in choosing the right medication”
Prof. Dr. Buchsbaum also stated that in the future, when creating individual treatment plans, data will first be obtained from EEG, and thanks to EEG, it will be possible to see how individuals differ from healthy individuals and where changes occur, saying:
“This will tell us a point in the brain. Most likely in the frontal lobe or other potential points. Then we will look at our library, our images. We will see how EEG yields a different result from other drugs compared to the images and data in our library. Then, by looking at the EEG results, we will be able to specifically decide which drug affects which point. This will enable us to choose the right drug.”
“It is very important to use the EEG technique to its full potential”
Prof. Dr. Buchsbaum stated that there is very clear evidence in EEG that drugs are beneficial for psychiatric and other neurological diseases, and therefore, it is very important to use the EEG technique to its full potential.
Emphasizing that Üsküdar Üniversitesi is one of the leading universities in global knowledge sharing, Prof. Dr. Buchsbaum said: “Thanks to global communication, science is progressing rapidly. In the past, it was very difficult to compare these studies worldwide. But now we can create a knowledge pool and make it accessible to the whole world. Through global conferences, we can share our research techniques. Üsküdar Üniversitesi's effort in this area is exciting.”
Imaging technologies are important for identifying changes in the brain
Among the conference participants, Prof. Dr. Derek Fisher, known for his work in cognitive and clinical neuroscience from Saint Vincent University of Canada, also provided information about his studies on how the brain changes in the context of schizophrenia and psychosis.
Stating that there are many things that can be done with new neuroimaging technologies, Prof. Dr. Fisher explained that using these technologies to classify patient groups will be very important in the future, and continued as follows:
“The treatments we provide currently are a kind of guesswork or methods that worked in the past. However, they are not personalized. Therefore, we will make maximum use of imaging technologies to identify specific changes in the brains of individuals who may respond better or worse to certain treatments. This will shorten the time until patients receive truly effective early treatment.’’
The importance of creating a personalized treatment plan
Emphasizing that the development of neuroimaging technologies is important for creating personalized treatment plans, Prof. Dr. Fisher noted the following:
“We know that QEEG (brain mapping) has shown great work, which is why, for example, we know that some drugs produce certain key EEG patterns. We can see how the brain looks with which drug, or how the drug reverses certain conditions. This provides a clue as to which drug or drugs would be more effective to start.”
Prof. Dr. Fisher also pointed out the importance of finding the most effective treatment for patients and connecting them with this treatment earlier, adding that this situation would positively affect patients' quality of life.
60 international researchers from 12 different countries participated
At the conference held at Üsküdar Üniversitesi NP Health Campus between September 3-7, 2023, 60 international researchers from 12 different countries discussed the latest developments in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine.
