Brain Scans Can Reveal The Occurrence Of Autism

Brain Scans Can Reveal The Occurrence Of Autism.
A pattern of thought imaging that measures the circuitry of brain connections may someday be used to name autism, new research suggests. Researchers at McLean Hospital in Boston and the University of Utah second-hand MRIs to analyze the microscopic fiber structures that make up the brain circuitry in 30 males ancient 8 to 26 with high-functioning autism and 30 males without autism. Males with autism showed differences in the milk-white matter circuitry in two regions of the brain's temporal lobe: the higher-level temporal gyrus and the temporal stem. Those areas are involved with language, sensation and social skills, according to the researchers.

Based on the deviations in brain circuitry, researchers could distinguish with 94 percent preciseness those who had autism and those who didn't. Currently, there is no biological test for autism. Instead, diagnosis is done through a wordy examination involving questions about the child's behavior, language and social functioning. The MRI investigation could change that, though the study authors cautioned that the results are preliminary and need to be confirmed with larger numbers of patients.

So "Our research pinpoints disruptions in the circuitry in a brain part that has been known for a long time to be responsible for language, social and emotional functioning, which are the major deficits in autism," said captain author Nicholas Lange, director of the Neurostatistics Laboratory at McLean Hospital and an ally professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "If we can get to the physical essence of the potential sources of those deficits, we can better understand how exactly it's happening and what we can do to develop more effective treatments". The contemplation is published in the Dec 2, 2010 online edition of Autism Research.