Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Children and Adolescents With Autism and Multiple Complex Developmental Disorders
Condition: Autism; Developmental Disabilities
MeSH terms: Autistic Disorder; Developmental Disabilities
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      This study aims to investigate the overlap and differences between autism and MCDD as
      neuropsychiatric childhood disorders. MRI scans are acquired from subjects with autism,
      subjects with a diagnosis of MCDD and typically developing controls. Volumetric measure of
      various brain regions are compared between groups. We hypothesize that subjects with autism
      will have larger brains than controls, whereas subjects with MCDD will have smaller brains.
    

Detailed description: 
      Autism and Childhood-onset Schizophrenia have been clearly defined as neuropsychiatric
      disorders since the studies of Kolvin and Rutter. In the early seventies the discussion on a
      possible overlap between the two types of disorders vanished, but nowadays this issue
      revives. Amongst all the advances of the DSM diagnostic criteria, the omission of
      developmental information appears to be a disadvantage. The Pervasive Developmental Spectrum
      is a broad spectrum, that with exceptions for Autism and some other characteristic disorders,
      to a large extent consists of an ill-defined restcategory. Most patients actually belong to
      this last category , the so-called PDD-NOS group. In recent years more has been published
      about the subgroups within this large group. One of these subgroups, the Multiple Complex
      Developmental Disorder (MCDD), appears to be a well defined category of patients whose
      validity has been confirmed by research. In adulthood, a large percentage of this MCDD group
      seems to develop Schizophrenia or a Schizophrenia related disorder. This again does arise the
      question of a possible overlap. This discussion is even emphasized by reports notably on
      -mostly retrospective- studies of premorbid autistic features in patients with Schizophrenia.

      In the present day studies on neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders, there is a search for
      biological markers or discriminating factors. One of the applied methods is structural
      imaging. Question marks can be placed on the differing study set-ups and protocols which
      seriously hinder their inter alia comparison. However one can still conclude that the results
      of studies on subjects with Autism and Childhood-onset Schizophrenia reveal major
      differences. However, structural abnormalities do not tell anything about possible functional
      abnormalities. But detecting structural abnormalities can be helpful in forming hypothesis
      about the origin of these neurodevelopmental disorders.

      In this study brain structures will be measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Structural
      deviances will be interpreted as a reflection of functional abnormalities. It is hypothesized
      that the abnormalities on structural imaging in MCDD patients will more resemble the
      abnormalities found in the literature for (Childhood-onset) Schizophrenia instead of the
      deviances revealed in subjects with Autism.

      In this study patients with Autism and MCDD will be divided in two groups: before and after
      puberty. Each group will behold 15-40 subjects. They each will be compared with two groups of
      20-25 age, sex and IQ matched controls. They will participate in carrying out a MRI scan,
      filling in some questionnaires and if necessary an IQ test and a general physical
      examination.The MRI scans will be measured, and compared with each other in order to find
      'disorder-specific' abnormalities.
    

Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Other
Keywords: MRI; PDD-NOS, MCDD