Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Research: A blood test to diagnose PTSD?

Researchers at Israel's Rebecca Sieff Hospital report they have come up with a blood test that can diagnose PTSD, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of a patient's treatment.

According to the researchers, patients with PTSD had higher levels of gamma delta T lymphocytes, which are produced by the body's inflammatory response to trauma. The same cells are generated by physical situations such as wounds or infections.

The study was conducted using blood samples from 33 people with PTSD and 31 "healthy" people.

Interestingly, the male patients with PTSD were found to have even higher levels of gamma delta T lymphocytes than women.

According to lead researcher Dr. Ofer Klein, doctors can use these cells to tell if a patient's treatment is effective. If the cell count goes down, then treatment is working.

The results of this early study were presented at a conference and have not yet been formally published.

1 comment:

  1. I am a veteran with a very small window to qualify for benefits, I have n]many diagnosis of ADHD, Depression(severe), Anxiety(severe), pschytzo-effective diss. most of witch point towards the diagnosis of PTSD however do not want to discuss the event openly because of the military active duty was at peace-time and on American soil also reluctant, yet excited to think that all the infections I have been treated for such as cellulitis could possibly be the real problem!!!
    IS IT REALLY POSSABLE?

    spiderman1989@outlook.com

    ReplyDelete