Diffusion kurtosis imaging indicates abnormal white matter tract integrity in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Motivation: Many children with autism spectrum disorders(ASD) do not exhibit typical clinical manifestations in their early years, making early diagnosis challenging. Goal(s): This study aimed to characterize changes in the brain microstructure of children with ASD through the use of white matter tract integrity (WMTI) metrics. Approach: Whole-brain and ROI-based methods were applied to analyze differences in DKI-based WMTI metrics between children with ASD and healthy children. Results: The results revealed that axonal water fraction (AWF) was significantly elevated in the bilateral cerebral hemispheres of children with ASD. Quantitative analysis of the corpus callosum demonstrated its ability to distinguish between ASD and healthy children. Impact: New WMTI metrics enhance our understanding of the underlying pathomechanisms of ASD and could serve as early biomarkers for microstructural changes in the brain of ASD.