Online CPR Certification Blog
Early Prediction of Autism Is Now Possible
Date: May 24th, 2017
Researchers have made a breakthrough that will help doctors predict the fate of infants who show specific changes in their brains. A child will therefore be able to receive the right diagnosis concerning the chances of developing autism. The growth of the brain will be monitored for the first two years, and an abnormal or overgrowth will help the doctors to make the right predictions.The Use of MRI Scans will be required
The young brain will however need to undergo an MRI scan as the doctors search for autism features. Even a bls healthcare provider will be in a position to read the results and offer advice on what needs to be done. Additional research is however required for a diagnosis tool for the toddlers who are at a high risk of autism development. This can mostly be determined by finding out whether there has been a history of autism in their family among other things.
The effects of autism
A person or child who develops this medical condition will have difficulties in communicating. When they do they repeat themselves a lot. Statistics show that in the U.S. there is one child with autism out of sixty-eight. Newborns who may have an autistic sibling are at a high risk of developing the condition.
The research involved measuring of the brains of two groups of infants. Those at high risk and had a sibling with the condition, and those at low risk with no cases in their families. The development could be checked again after 6 months, and then after 24 months of age. The measurement can’t be done by a health officer with only a first aid cpr certificate because it involves taking the whole volume of the brain and then cerebral cortex’s surface area and thickness.
An overgrowth was discovered on the infants who were diagnosed with autism later, while the healthy ones had a normal growth.
How the growth happens
A layperson with basic life support certification can tell that the cerebral cortex is the outer layer that we see on brain images. In its growth based on the research, the thickness doesn’t change, but the surface area does. In that case the brain enlarges.
How the outcome will help
The outcome of the research will simplify how physicians handle autistic cases. Even those with first aid cpr certification will be able to read the behaviors of the children with the likeliness of developing the condition. When the intervention is started early, it will be easier to limit the major characteristic of this condition. When changes of the brain are detected that early, a therapist can start engaging the baby from the earliest age possible. That will help the infant to coordinate from an early age and hence get rid of the major effects of the autistic condition.