Amen Clinics: Brain SPECT Imaging
There is still much for us to learn about the functioning of the human brain.
Impacting the way psychiatric medicine is practiced through the use of SPECT functional neuroimaging in clinical evaluation was a funding opportunity with the potential for life-changing results. Sufferers with a range of behavioral and neurobiological diagnoses had previously shown improvement when SPECT was used as an additional diagnostic tool to find suitable treatments.
Dr Amen has championed cerebral SPECT technology in brain imaging for over 20 years because he strongly believes that other imaging tools, such as CT and MRI, do not detect some brain dysfunctions, and therefore treatment cannot be as targeted. He says, “The technology is an underutilized tool in the routine clinical evaluation of patients with mood, behavioral and learning problems. We need more research on how imaging can enhance clinical practice and improve the outcomes of individuals and families that suffer from mental illness.”
Taking a holistic approach over the years, Dr Amen has experimented with a range of treatments, none too common to be excluded, such as nutritional supplements, exercise, and basic behavior modification. These are informed by accurate diagnosis: as he argues, “How do you know how to help people unless you look at how your brain functions?”
SEEDS supported the development of a new database design and subsequent scanning and entry of the legacy data. The goal of 41,400 charts entered into the database was not completed within the funding period but the researchers have been closing the gap in the ensuing time frame. Now, with 100,000 SPECT neuroimaging files, the database has become the world’s largest brain SPECT imaging database.
To date, there are measurable outcomes from this body of work. Patients who found earlier treatments had failed are now finding relief and more productive lives using the Amen Clinic’s method.
The information on the database is being shared among universities such as Columbia University, UCLA and Howard University, for research in advancing the use of SPECT imaging in psychiatric care. In 2014 alone, two new research papers linking the use of SPECT imaging in positive patient outcomes were published in Advances in Mind Body Medicine. Memoranda with eight American universities were drafted towards sharing research and promoting academic collaboration and exchange. A new book, The Power of the Female Brain, revealed the impact of gender differences in brain functioning and was made possible because of the large cohort size in the database.
More research is underway, with the increase in knowledge, new psychiatric discoveries and/ or new diagnostic tools and products are now possible. SEEDS values healing treatments and this investment will hopefully help thousands of individuals and families have a higher quality of life.
Learning: Gift of a Seed
We have asked the Amen Clinics to sow back into the community if they generate revenue from the database. Through the Change your Brain, Change your Life Foundation, tremendous work has been done for the community: education, donation of supplements, particularly to the homeless and drug addicts through other NGOs. It is for this reason that we felt comfortable partnering with Dr Amen.
We seeded this project in the hope that it would be an asset capable of multiplying "a hundred, sixty or thirty times". We await the harvest.