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The Utility of MRI in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Xue Ming, Mary O’Connor, Savitra Bandari, Wenzhuan He and Gretchen Brewer

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of brain based disorders associated with co-occurring medical conditions, such as epilepsy. With highly specialized imaging technology revealing functional and structural abnormalities in the brains of patients with ASD, the role of routine structural conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is controversial and may not be a useful tool for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment. This study evaluated the utility of conventional routine MRI in ASD with and without co-occurring epilepsy. We reviewed the records of children with ASD ages 8-17 years and performed statistical analysis comparing MRI brain abnormalities and epilepsy. Seventy-seven of 253 subjects underwent brain imaging, 55 had MRI results available and, of these, 8 had brain parenchymal abnormalities. These abnormalities included two subjects with Chiari I malformation, one each with hamartoma, enlarged vascular space, venous angioma, and three with abnormal white matter signals. Brain MRI parenchymal abnormalities were not associated with the presence of epilepsy in children with ASD. In our cohort, conventional routine MRI was not useful as a tool that could lead to immediate diagnosis or treatment. The benefit and risks of conventional brain MRI for children with ASD should be carefully weighed. If an imaging study is highly suggested, some of the clinically available advanced imaging technologies should be considered in place of conventional MRI.