Study on CT changes in autistic children

-anatomical correlation of the damaged brain and delayed of psychomotor development-

Abstract

Since 1979 we have performed CT examinations on 132 autistic children. Neurological diagnosis of the lesion was established by Dr. Segawa's group. On the CT of many autistic children, we found a small low density change located in the anterior wall of the temporal horn, or localized dilatation of the inferior horn near the damaged brain. We reviewed 96 of these patients which all had the obvious low density changes, or localized irregular dilatations in the anterior wall of the temporal horn. By measureing the distance of damage from the midline, we divided the 96 cases into two groups. Group 1 consisted of those with damage located laterally more than 30mm line from the midline. Group 2 consisted of those with damage medially to the 30mm line from the midline. Those cases with, a large lesion both laterally and medially of the 30mm line, were categorized into group 1. In the adult brain the lateral border of the amygdaloid nucleus was never located laterally more than 30mm from the midline. Laterally over the 30mm line there were two marked fiber systems running near the anterior wall of the temporal horn: the fiber of the anterior commissure and the uncinate fascicle. Group 1 consisted of 62 patients and group 2, of 34 patients. The majority of the group two patients were pure autism children. This suggested that the main lesion in autism was in the amygdala.