BOB DOUGHTY: The researchers did MRI scans on sixty males between the ages of eight and twenty-six. Thirty of them had been identified as having mild autism, a form also known as high-functioning autism.
The researchers looked at the connections in two areas of the brain that control language and social behavior. They used a method called diffusion tensor imaging. This way they could observe microscopic fibers to see how well the brain circuitry was organized.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Nicholas Lange says the pictures showed a clear difference between the people with autism and those without. He compared it to spaghetti.
NICHOLAS LANGE: "There's a bundle of uncooked spaghetti and there's clear a directionality to that. It's nice and well-organized, as opposed to a cooked bowl of spaghetti that's just a tangle of -- it looks like spaghetti. And that's the way the wiring can be. It can either be very tangled [or] it can be very organized."
FAITH LAPIDUS: The researchers say the tests were able to predict with ninety-four percent accuracy which of the people had been found to have autism. The researchers repeated their testing with other subjects and got equally strong results. The results appeared in the journal Autism Research.
Doctor Lange says the test is not ready yet for general use. The study was small and only involved males. It also used older children and adults.
Doctor Lange says that, in time, the test might be able to identify autism in children under three. Three is currently the youngest age at which most doctors will diagnose an autism disorder. But most parents begin to suspect a problem by the age of two.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25