A US study claims to have developed a brain scan that can detect high-functioning autism with a 94% success rate, the best biologically based test for autism to date.
The study, published in Autism Research (October 2010), was carried out by researchers at Harvard University’s McLean Hospital and the University of Utah. The findings could not only lead to an earlier and more scientific diagnosis, but also to a better understanding of autism and its treatment and management.
Nicholas Lange of Harvard Medical School, who directs the Neurostatistics Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, said: "These results are the best yet in the search for a biological basis in terms of being able to distinguish those with and without the disease. The basis of autism in the brain is very deep. There may be very little that one can actually change about the disorder for an individual with a severe case. However, it has been shown that in the early stages of development, individuals have been aided by intense one-on-one caring to help them with language, social function with their peers and also with emotional problems."
The research team, led by Dr Janet Lainhart of the University of Utah, used an MRI scanner that was tuned to pick up microscopic features of the brain’s wiring – a technique known as diffusion tensor imaging. Brain scans were taken of 30 people with autism and 30 people without, and the brain’s circuitry was found to be significantly different in each group, specifically in areas of the brain required for language and social and emotional functioning.
The team measured six aspects of the brain’s circuitry and was able to correctly identify those people who had been diagnosed with autism with 94% accuracy. A repeat study using two different groups of people achieved similar success.
Findings are preliminary, however, if confirmed in other and larger studies they may replace the subjective tests that are currently used to diagnose autism.
Further information
Abstract of study
Telegraph news story
NHS summary of study and findings
more news.