Cerebellar structure in autism
G. R. Gaffney, L. Y. Tsai, S. Kuperman and S. Minchin
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Kansas College of Health Sciences and Hospital, Kansas City.
Several recent reports suggest cerebellar abnormalities in patients with
autism. To further investigate the posterior fossa in vivo, we analyzed
axial (transverse) and coronal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of
autistic patients. The MRI scans were measured at life-size by planimetry.
Axial MRI scans of "high level" autistic patients were compared with
control scans; there were no differences in the fourth ventricles, vermes,
cerebella, and cerebellar-pontine "complexes" between the groups. Coronal
MRI scans were also studied. In the coronal scans, the cerebella of
autistic patients were proportionally smaller and the fourth ventricles
proportionally larger. This suggests that there are morphologic changes in
cerebella of autistic children; such alteration may best be viewed in the
MRI coronal plane.
