Methods for diagnosing and monitoring treatment of adhd by assessing the dopamine transporter level
AssigneesPresident and Fellows of Harvard College, Organix, Inc., The General Hospital Corporation
InventorsBertha K. Madras, Alan J. Fischman, Peter C. Meltzer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of diagnosing attention deficient-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a human patient by assessing the level of dopamine transporter in at least one region of the patient's central nervous system, where an elevated level of dopamine transporter in the patient is indicative of ADHD. In embodiments of the invention, assessment of dopamine transporter levels includes assessing binding of a dopamine transporter ligand to the dopamine transporters using PET or SPECT.
Claims35
A method of diagnosing attention deficient-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a human patient comprising assessing dopamine transporter in at least one region of said patient's central nervous system, wherein an elevated level of dopamine transporter in said patient is indicative of ADHD.
A method of determining the effectiveness of an ADHD treatment for a human patient, the method comprising:
- a) assessing an initial dopamine transporter level in at least one region of said patient's central nervous system;
- b) applying the treatment;
- c) assessing a subsequent dopamine transporter level in said at least one region of said patient's central nervous system;
- and
- d) comparing the dopamine transporter level in step (a) with the dopamine transporter level in step (c), wherein a decrease in dopamine transporter levels indicates that the treatment is effective.
A method of determining whether an individual has a heightened probability of having ADHD, the method comprising:
- assessing dopamine transporter in at least one region of said patient's central nervous system;
- comparing said patient's dopamine transporter level to a normal dopamine transporter level, wherein a higher than normal level indicates a heightened probability of having ADHD.
A method of monitoring the progress of a treatment for ADHD in a human patient, the method comprising assessing dopamine transporter in at least one region of said patient's central nervous system a plurality of times during said treatment.
The method of claim 31, further comprising administering to the patient a labeled dopamine transporter ligand before the assessing step, and wherein the assessing comprises determining the amount of labeled dopamine transporter ligand that is bound to dopamine transporter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.