Martha Herbert blog : brain imaging study for early detection of autism

[Guest guest]

WHY AREN'T WE THERE YET? Valuable but incomplete measures of brain

changes in babies with autism

In my opinion the recent research paper, Differences in White Matter

Fiber Tract Development Present from 6 to 24 Months in Infants with

Autism <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=22362397> (Am J

Psychiatry 2012 ; 169 :589-600), reports a very important finding and

represents a huge amount of work, but the study is quite incomplete both

in what was chosen to be measured and how the findings are interpreted

by the investigators, Wolff et al. Moreover, even though this

study has been touted in the news as a way of detecting autism early, it

really isn't ready for prime time as a clear indicator of the autism

diagnosis. I think this finding is about things that /occur downstream/

of/other biological factors that are driving these changes. /-- And

because these changes are downstream, they are /fuzzier/ in that they

reflect a mixture of lots of other influences. This makes it hard for

them to clearly demarcate risk from lack of risk. Measuring what's

upstream might bring us closer to a clinically useful brain measure of

autism risk in young infants....

http://www.autismwhyandhow.org/why-arent-we-there-yet-valuable-but-incomplete-me\

asures-of-brain-changes-in-babies-with-autism/