Abstract
Hemispheric asymmetries, fourth venticular size, and cerebellar morphology were examined in 15 healthy men, aged 18 to 39 years, with documented childhood diagnoses of infantile autism, and in 20 healthy age-and sex-matched controls using computerized transverse axial tomography (CT). Nine patients were of approximately average intelligence, 3 showed specific language impairments, and 3 were mentally retarded. No significant group differences were seen in the distributions of frontal or posterior asymmetries of width or petalia. No subject showed evidence of cerebellar atrophy or an enlarged fourth ventricle. These results fail to support a hypothesis of unusual hemispheric asymmetry or macroscopic abnormalities of the posterior fossa in autism.
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National Institute on Aging
The authors thank the National Society for Autistic Adults and Children and the Linwood Center in Ellicott City, Maryland, for their assistance in announcing our studies to families. We also wish to acknowledge that this work was supported in part by the Gulton Foundation, Tenafly, New Jersey. This paper was submitted for publication on August 18, 1986.
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Rumsey, J.M., Creasey, H., Stepanek, J.S. et al. Hemispheric asymmetries, fourth ventricular size, and cerebellar morphology in autism. J Autism Dev Disord 18, 127–137 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02211823
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02211823