Autism Research News 2017: MRI Scans of Brains Could Lead to Earlier Diagnosis and Intervention
Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Care have developed a new diagnostic method that could lead to the early diagnosis of infants at risk for developing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) even before they show symptoms of the neurodevelopmental condition.
Children with autism are usually diagnosed in the first two years of life, which is when symptoms are first observed by parents. Previous studies have also noted that these children also seem to have brain enlargements compared with those without the neurodevelopmental disorder. Given these findings, there was merit in studying brain changes that may occur in the first few months of a person's life with the possibility that it could be a biomarker for ASD.
According to the new study published by Nature, researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor the brain development "high-risk" infants, defined as those with older siblings with autism.
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"Typically, the earliest an autism diagnosis can be made is between ages two and three. But for babies with older autistic siblings, our imaging approach may help predict during the first year of life which babies are most likely to receive an autism diagnosis at 24 months," said co-author Dr. Joseph Piven in a statement.
Infants who were part of the study were scanned at six, 12 and 24 months of age. Researchers used these brain measurements and applied a computer algorithm to monitor brain changes. According to the findings, hyper-expansion of the brain surface area were observed between six to 12 months and was positively correlated with more growth in the second year of life, which has been tied to the emergence of symptoms.
Researchers were able to predict eight out of 10 infants who would later on be diagnosed with autism at 2 years old.
Implications of this study are groundbreaking as it has already been established that early intervention leads to significant improvements in the IQ, language ability and social skills of children with autism. Furthermore, this study could even lead to the discovery of preventative efforts that could perhaps avert the development of the condition.
"We haven't had a way to detect the biomarkers of autism before the condition sets in and symptoms develop. Now, we have very promising leads that suggest this may in fact be possible," Piven added.
In a 2016 report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that the prevalence rate of ASD in children aged 8 are largely unchanged from two years ago. In the United States, one in 68 children is diagnosed with autism, specifically one in 42 boys and one in 189 girls.
