7Catatonia Diagnosis
There is no definitive test for diagnosing catatonia. For this purpose, your doctor first needs to do a physical exam to rule out similar conditions. The Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale is usually used by doctors to diagnose the condition. It is a scale with 23 items, ranging from 0 to 3. A 3 rating indicates the presence of symptoms, while a 0 rating suggests the absence of symptoms. A blood test can be done to check for a blood clot or electrolyte imbalance, which leads to mental changes. Another technique is the fibrin D-dimer blood test. It measures the levels of D-dimer, which tends to increase in people with catatonia. Imaging techniques like MRI or CT scans enable your doctor to get detailed images of the brain, thus ruling out a brain swelling or tumor. [6]
