Detecting Brain Infections Without Surgery

Several hundred serious brain infections such as abscesses andmeningitis are diagnosed in Australians every year. Neurologicalinfections require immediate identification and treatment, howeverdoctors have always faced difficulty in accurately and rapidlydiagnosing an infection, in both children and adults.

Professor Tania Sorrell and her team at the Centre forInfectious Diseases and Microbiology at Westmead Millennium Institutehave come up with a safe and simple ways of distinguishing betweenbrain tumour and different types of brain infections, and for rapidlydiagnosing cases of meningitis.

Currently available tests such as CT scans and magneticresonance imaging (MRI) cannot clearly distinguish between differentbrain infections and other brain disorders such as tumours. This meanspatients often have to undergo invasive and dangerous brain surgery todiagnose their illness before treatment with antibiotics can begin.

Using standard hospital MRI equipment, clinicians can now use atechnique called Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry (MRS) to accuratelyand quickly differentiate between tumour and infection. As technologyadvances, and hospitals obtain more powerful MRI equipment, doctorswill also be able to identify the type of infection, meaning patientscan receive immediate treatment.

"When diagnosing bacterial or viral brain infections, accuracyand speed are vitally important" says chief investigator ProfessorTania Sorrell.

"In the past, patients who may have been successfully treatedwith something as simple as antibiotics have had to go through generalanaesthesia and risky brain surgery before treatment has started. Ourresearch will enable these dangerous infections to be picked upquickly, simply and cost effectively"

"The same kind of test on spinal fluid samples can be used torapidly diagnose meningitis, a particular problem in children, leadingto more targeted treatment and better outcomes"

This research was recently named one of the ten best in Australia by the National Health and Medical Research Council.