When I was 10 years old, a cousin of mine took me on a tour of his medical school. And as a special treat, he took me to the pathology lab and took a real human brain out of the jar and placed it in my hands. And there it was, the seat of human consciousness, the powerhouse of the human body, sitting in my hands. And that day I knew that when I grew up, I was going to become a brain doctor, scientist, something or the other.
Cando eu tiña 10 anos un primo meu levoume a visita-la súa escola de medicina E especialmente levoume ao laboratorio de patoloxía. Colleu un cerebro humano real, sacouno do frasco e púxoo nas miñas mans. E alí estaba, o asento da conciencia humana, o centro do poder do corpo humano, colocado nas miñas mans. E ese día souben que cando medrara, ía convertirme nunha doutora do cerebro, ou científica, una cousa ou a outra.
Years later, when I finally grew up, my dream came true. And it was while I was doing my Ph.D. on the neurological causes of dyslexia in children that I encountered a startling fact that I'd like to share with you all today. It is estimated that one in six children, that's one in six children, suffer from some developmental disorder. This is a disorder that retards mental development in the child and causes permanent mental impairments. Which means that each and every one of you here today knows at least one child that is suffering from a developmental disorder.
Anos máis tarde, cando finalmente medrei, o meu soño fíxose realidade. E foi mentres facía o meu doutorado sobre as causas neurolóxicas da dislexia nos nenos, cando atopei un feito sorprendente que me gustaría compartir hoxe con todos vós. Estímase que un de cada seis nenos, sí, un de cada seis nenos, padece algún trastorno de desenvolvemento. Este é un trastorno que retrasa o desenvolvemento mental do neno e causa discapacidades mentais permanentes. O que significa que todos e cada un de vós que estades hoxe aquí coñecedes alomenos un neno que sofre un trastorno de desenvolvemento.
But here's what really perplexed me. Despite the fact that each and every one of these disorders originates in the brain, most of these disorders are diagnosed solely on the basis of observable behavior. But diagnosing a brain disorder without actually looking at the brain is analogous to treating a patient with a heart problem based on their physical symptoms, without even doing an ECG or a chest X-ray to look at the heart. It seemed so intuitive to me. To diagnose and treat a brain disorder accurately, it would be necessary to look at the brain directly. Looking at behavior alone can miss a vital piece of the puzzle and provide an incomplete, or even a misleading, picture of the child's problems. Yet, despite all the advances in medical technology, the diagnosis of brain disorders in one in six children still remained so limited.
Pero aquí ven o que realmente me deixou perplexa: a pesar do feito de que todos e cada un destes trastornos teñen orixe no cerebro, a maioría deles soamente se diagnostican basándose no comportamento observable. Pero diagnosticar un trastorno cerebral sen realmente ver o cerebro é o mesmo que tratar un paciente cun problema de corazón baseándose nos seus síntomas físicos, sen tan sequera facerlle un ECG ou unha radiografía de tórax para ve-lo corazón. Era algo tan intuitivo para min. Para diagnosticar e tratar un tarstorno cerebral con precisión, cumpriría observar directamente o cerebro. Se nos fixamos soamente no comportamento perdemos a peza clave do puzzle e teremos un diagnóstico incompleto, ou mesmo un erróneo, do problema do neno. Nembargantes, a pesar de tódolos avances en tecnoloxía médica, a diagnose de trastornos cerebrais nun de cada seis nenos aínda parecía moi limitada.
And then I came across a team at Harvard University that had taken one such advanced medical technology and finally applied it, instead of in brain research, towards diagnosing brain disorders in children. Their groundbreaking technology records the EEG, or the electrical activity of the brain, in real time, allowing us to watch the brain as it performs various functions and then detect even the slightest abnormality in any of these functions: vision, attention, language, audition. A program called Brain Electrical Activity Mapping then triangulates the source of that abnormality in the brain. And another program called Statistical Probability Mapping then performs mathematical calculations to determine whether any of these abnormalities are clinically significant, allowing us to provide a much more accurate neurological diagnosis of the child's symptoms. And so I became the head of neurophysiology for the clinical arm of this team, and we're finally able to use this technology towards actually helping children with brain disorders. And I'm happy to say that I'm now in the process of setting up this technology here in India.
E entón atopei un equipo da Universidade de Harvard que atopara tecnoloxía médica avanzada e finalmente a aplicara, en lugar de en investigacións cerebrais, na diagnose de trastornos cerebrais en nenos. A súa tecnoloxía innovadora rexistrou a EEG ou actividade eléctrica do cerebro en tempo real, permitíndonos observa-lo cerebro mentras realiza varias funcións para entón detecta-la máis sutil anomalía en calquera destas funcións: vision, atención, linguaxe e audición. Un programa chamado Cartografía da Actividade Eléctrica do Cerebro triangula a fonte desta anomalía no cerebro. E outro programa chamado Cartografía das Probabilidades Estatísticas realiza despois cálculos matemáticos para determinar se algunha destas anomalías son clínicamente significativas, permitíndonos a nós proporcionar unha diagnose neurolóxica moito máis precisa dos síntomas do neno. E entón convertinme na xefa de neurofisioloxía na rama clínica deste equipo. Agora somos capaces de usar esta tecnoloxía axudando de verdade a nenos con trastornos cerebrais. Podo dicir que agora estou en proceso de sacar esta tecnoloxía aquí na India.
I'd like to tell you about one such child, whose story was also covered by ABC News. Seven-year-old Justin Senigar came to our clinic with this diagnosis of very severe autism. Like many autistic children, his mind was locked inside his body. There were moments when he would actually space out for seconds at a time. And the doctors told his parents he was never going to be able to communicate or interact socially, and he would probably never have too much language.
Gustaríame contarlles o caso dun destes nenos, cuxa historia foi tamén cuberta polo noticiero ABC News. Con sete anos, Justin Senigar chegou á nosa clínica cunha diagnose de autismo moi severo. Como moitos nenos autistas tiña a mente atrapada no seu corpo. De feito, había momentos nos que a súa mente se ausentaba durante varios segundos. E os doutores dixéronlle aos pais que nunca chegaría a ser capaz de comunicarse ou interactuar socialmente, e que probablemente nunca tería demasiada linguaxe.
When we used this groundbreaking EEG technology to actually look at Justin's brain, the results were startling. It turned out that Justin was almost certainly not autistic. He was suffering from brain seizures that were impossible to see with the naked eye, but that were actually causing symptoms that mimicked those of autism. After Justin was given anti-seizure medication, the change in him was amazing. Within a period of 60 days, his vocabulary went from two to three words to 300 words. And his communication and social interaction were improved so dramatically that he was enrolled into a regular school and even became a karate super champ.
Cando utilizamos esta innovadora tecnoloxía EEG para realmente mira-lo cerebro de Justin, os resultados foron asombrosos. Resultou que Justin non era autista, autista, prácticamente seguro. Padecía convulsións cerebrais que eran imposibles de ver cos ollos, pero que de feito lle estaban provocando síntomas que imitaban aos do autismo. Despois de darlle a Justin unha menciña anticonvulsiva, o cambio nel foi impresionante. En menos de 60 días, o seu vocabulario pasou de dúas ou tres palabras a 300 palabras. E a súa comunicación e interacción social mellorou dunha maneira tan drástica, que foi inscrito nunha escola normal e mesmo se converteu nun super campión de karate.
Research shows that 50 percent of children, almost 50 percent of children diagnosed with autism are actually suffering from hidden brain seizures. These are the faces of the children that I have tested with stories just like Justin. All these children came to our clinic with a diagnosis of autism, attention deficit disorder, mental retardation, language problems. Instead, our EEG scans revealed very specific problems hidden within their brains that couldn't possibly have been detected by their behavioral assessments. So these EEG scans enabled us to provide these children with a much more accurate neurological diagnosis and much more targeted treatment.
Os estudos mostran que o 50 por cento dos nenos, case o 50 por cento dos nenos diagnosticados con autismo en realidade sufren convulsións cerebrais ocultas. Estas son as caras dos nenos que examinei con historias como a de Justin. Todos estes nenos chegaron á nosa clínica con diagnoses de autismo, trastornos por déficit de atención, retraso mental, problemas de linguaxe... Sen embargo, o noso escáner EEG revelou problemas moi específicos escondidos nos seus cerebros que posiblemente non poderían ser detectados mediante unha valoración baseada no comportamento. Por tanto, estes escáners permítennos darlle a estes nenos unha diagnose neurolóxica moito máis precisa e un tratamento moito máis dirixido.
For too long now, children with developmental disorders have suffered from misdiagnosis while their real problems have gone undetected and left to worsen. And for too long, these children and their parents have suffered undue frustration and desperation. But we are now in a new era of neuroscience, one in which we can finally look directly at brain function in real time with no risks and no side effects, non-invasively, and find the true source of so many disabilities in children.
Durante moito tempo, os nenos con trastornos de desenvolvemento sufriron diagnóses quivocadas mentres que os seus problemas reais non se detectaban e seguían empeorando. E durante moito tempo, estes nenos e os seus pais sufriron a frustación e a desesperación. Pero agora estamos nunha nova era da neurociencia, unha na que por fin podemos observar directamente un cerebro funcionando en tempo real, sen riscos e sen efectos colaterais, de maneira non invasiva, e atopa-la verdadeira fonte de tantas incapacidades nos nenos.
So if I could inspire even a fraction of you in the audience today to share this pioneering diagnostic approach with even one parent whose child is suffering from a developmental disorder, then perhaps one more puzzle in one more brain will be solved. One more mind will be unlocked. And one more child who has been misdiagnosed or even undiagnosed by the system will finally realize his or her true potential while there's still time for his or her brain to recover. And all this by simply watching the child's brainwaves.
Así que se eu puidera inspirar aínda que fose a una fracción de vós no público hoxe para promover este enfoque de diagnose pioneiro aínda que sexa cun pai cun fillo que sufre un trastorno de desenvolvemento, entón quizáis un puzzle máis nun cerebro máis se resolverá. Unha mente máis será desbloqueada. E un neno máis que foi diagnosticado erroneamente, ou mesmo non diagnosticado polo sistema, poderá finalmente sacar o seu verdadeiro potencial mentres todavía hai tempo para que o seu cerebro se recupere. E todo isto pola simple observación das ondas cerebrais dos nenos.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)