FRONTAL AND TEMPORAL LOBE DYSFUNCTION IN AUTISM AND OTHER RELATED DISORDERS: ADHD AND OCD

SUMMARY

Autism, Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), and Obsessive and Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involve significant frontal and temporal lobe dysfunction. This conclusion is based on NeuroSPECT work now in progress on children afflicted with these disorders. We have been using NeuroSPECT to image cerebral abnormalities of perfusion/function in Autism, ADHD, OCD, and other neuro-cognitive disorders.

With the increased focus and presentation of children labeled Autistic Syndrome / PDD, has come a greater need to understand and define the dysfunction in these children by objective "functional" quantification, now possible with new imaging technology such as NeuroSPECT.

The children have been evaluated by means of Xe133 for SPECT, expressing the results three-dimensionally and rCBF quantitatively in ml/min/100g; and qualitatively by means of Tc-99 HMPAO. The correlation of cerebral perfusion with brain function has been established, as NeuroSPECT is a useful tool for cerebral function assessment.

In this review paper, we will discuss our clinical observation and our rCBF findings for Autism and these related disorders.