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Brian Egaas, MS; Eric Courchesne, PhD; Osamu Saitoh, MD

Arch Neurol. 1995;52(8):794-801.

Abstract
Objective
To determine via magnetic resonance imaging if the posterior corpus callosum is reduced in the midline cross-sectional area in autistic patients, consistent with previous reports of parietal lobe abnormalities.

Design
Case-control study.

Setting
Tertiary care facility.

Patients and Other Participants
Fifty-one autistic patients (45 males and six females; age range, 3 to 42 years), including both mentally retarded and nonretarded patients who met several diagnostic criteria for autism were prospectively selected. Fifty-one age- and sex-matched volunteer normal control subjects were also included.

Intervention
None.

Main Outcome Measures
Computer-aided measurement of cross-sectional area, areas of five subregions, and thickness profile.

Results
Overall size reduction, concentrated in posterior subregions.

Conclusions
Evidence is found of a reduced size of the corpus callosum in autistic patients. This reduction is localized to posterior regions, where parietal lobe fibers are known to project. This finding further supports the idea that parietal lobe involvement may be a consistent feature in autism.

Author Affiliations
From the Neuropsychology Research Laboratory, Children's Hospital Research Center, San Diego, Calif (Mr Egaas and Drs Courchesne and Saitoh), the Neurosciences Department, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego (Drs Courchesne and Saitoh), and the Department of Psychiatry, National Center Hospital for Mental, Nervous, and Muscular Disorders, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan (Dr Saitoh).

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