Computed Tomographic Brain Scanning in Children with Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders

doi:10.1016/S0002-7138(09)60993-6

Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry

Volume 20, Issue 2, Spring 1981, Pages 338-357

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-7138(09)60993-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

Eighty-five patients with childhood-onset pervasive neuropsychiatric disorders (infantile autism, pervasive developmental disorders, developmental language disorders, severe attentional deficit disorders with learning difficulties, and Tourette's syndrome of chronic multiple tics) underwent computed tomographic scanning of the brain. Clinical assessments of each image of the patients' scans by a diagnostic radiologist, who was “blind” to the neuropsychiatric diagnosis, were used in the first phase of the study, which is reported here. Twenty-four percent of the scan series revealed clear abnormalities and 13% showed mild asymmetrics in ventricular and/or hemispheric size. Of the children with pervasive developmental disorder, 59% had abnormal scans, as did 44% of the language impaired and 38% of the Tourette's syndrome groups. No distinct abnormality was isolated by which diagnostic categories could be separated, nor was an increased prevalence of scan abnormalities associated with overall severity of symptoms. Mild asymmetries, involving increased size of the left hemisphere and/or the left ventricular system, were found in all diagnostic groups.

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: We thank Drs. E. Mikkelsen, T. Lowe, R. Hunt, and J. Detlor, R.N., for their research collaboration; C. Carbonari and D. Harcherik for their research assistance; Dr. J. Prichard, Director of the Yale EEG Laboratory; and the staff of the Yale-New Haven computed tomography facility for their essential collaboration. This research was supported in part by MH-CRC grant MH30929, CCRC grant RR00125, NICHD grant HD-03008, NS grant 12384, NIAA grant 03299, the Thrasher Research Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, Mr. Leonard Berger, and the Solomon R. & Rebecca D. Baker Foundation.

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RECENT ADVANCES IN INFANT PSYCHIATRYComputed Tomographic Brain Scanning in Children with Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Abstract

This Journal

This Journal

This Journal

This Journal

This Journal

Lancet

J. Pediat.

This Journal

Lancet

Organic factors in infantile psychoses and borderline psychoses

Danish Med. Bull.

Medical implications in computed tomography (“CAT scanning”): Part 1

New Eng. J. Med.

Computer assisted tomography of the head

Mayo Clinic Proc

Schizophrenia in childhood

Amer. J. Orthopsychiat.

Pneumoencephalography of patients in a child psychiatric department

Danish Med. Bull.

Follow-up study of preschool children with atypical development (infantile psychosis)

Amer. J. Orthopsychiat.

Neurophysiological aspects of the schizophrenia syndrome

The diagnostic process in child psychiatry

Psychiat. Ann.

Neurochemical and developmental models of childhood autism

Dopamine and serotonin metabolism in neuropsychiatrically disturbed children

Arch. Gen. Psychiat.

Chronic, multiple tics of Gilles de la Tourette's disease

Arch. Gen. Psychiat.

A neuropsychologic interpretation of infantile autism

Biologic antecedents of psychosis in children

Res. Pub. Assn. Res. Nerv. Ment. Dis.

Developmental changes in normal cranial measurements by computed tomography

Develpm. Med. Child Neurol.

Cerebral ventricular size and neuropsychological impairment in young chronic schizophrenics

Arch. Gen. Psychiat.

RECENT ADVANCES IN INFANT PSYCHIATRY
Computed Tomographic Brain Scanning in Children with Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders