Abstract #4317

Sharp Curvature in Frontal Lobe White Matter Pathways of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Jeong-Won Jeong^1,2, Ajay Kumar^1,2, Senthil K. Sundaram^1,2, Harry T. Chigani^1,2, Diane C. Chugani^2,3

¹Pediatrics, Neurology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States; ²PET Center, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, United States; ³Radiology, Wayne State University, Detroit

The purpose of this study was to examine the curvature of frontal lobe tracts in ASD children using an objective tract based morphometry analysis and investigate the curvature-specific changes in diffusion parameters of these tracts. Significantly higher curvatures were found in children with ASD, especially at the parieto-temporal junction for arcuate fasciculus, at the fronto-temporal junction for uncinate fasciculus, and at the midline of the corpus callosum in genu. In addition, the children with ASD showed higher radial diffusivity at the bending regions of arcuate fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, ang corpus callosum in genu, respectively.