• Question: can you use brain cells to figure out if their is any problems?

    Asked by Daniel to Robert on 13 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Robert Lees

      Robert Lees answered on 13 Nov 2015:

      Doctors can normally figure out if there are problems with somebody’s brain without having to look at their brain cells. If they want to know what the exact problem is, they’d have to take a biopsy. This can be done by drilling a small hole in the skull and extracting some brain tissue (with a needle). From this it is possible to work out if there is inflammation, tumor, infection or neurodegenerative markers (for things like Alzheimer’s) and suggest possible treatment.

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