Brief Report: Abnormal Association Between the Thalamus and Brain Size in Asperger’s Disorder

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between thalamic volume and brain size in individuals with Asperger’s disorder (ASP). Volumetric measurements of the thalamus were performed on MRI scans obtained from 12 individuals with ASP (age range: 10–35 years) and 12 healthy controls...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2008-02, Vol.38 (2), p.390-394
Main Authors: Hardan, Antonio Y., Girgis, Ragy R., Adams, Jason, Gilbert, Andrew R., Melhem, Nadine M., Keshavan, Matcheri S., Minshew, Nancy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Asperger Syndrome
Asperger Syndrome - diagnosis
Asperger's syndrome
Autism
Autistic Disorder - diagnosis
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain - pathology
Brain size
Brief Report
Child
Child and School Psychology
Child clinical studies
Control Groups
Correlation
Developmental disorders
Diagnostic Tests
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Infantile autism
Intelligence
Language Acquisition
Language Development Disorders - diagnosis
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Measurement
Medical imaging
Medical sciences
Metabolism
Neuroimaging
Neurosciences
Pathophysiology
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public Health
Reference Values
Thalamus - pathology
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Summary:The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between thalamic volume and brain size in individuals with Asperger’s disorder (ASP). Volumetric measurements of the thalamus were performed on MRI scans obtained from 12 individuals with ASP (age range: 10–35 years) and 12 healthy controls (age range: 9–33 years). A positive correlation was found between total brain volume and thalamic size in controls, but not in ASP subjects. This occurred in the absence of differences in mean thalamic volumes between the study groups. Findings from this investigation point to an abnormal relationship between the thalamus and its projection areas in ASP and are consistent with similar studies in autism, supporting that these disorders are qualitatively similar and possibly quantitatively different.
ISSN:0162-3257
1573-3432
DOI:10.1007/s10803-007-0385-1