الفهرس 
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Abstract
Volumetric analysis of brain MRI can be a useful tool in the diagnosis and monitoring pathological changes in children with ASD. With further research, volumetry can be a reliable method in assessing the cases with suspected ASD. This can lead to early and more accurate ASD diagnosis. The process of autism diagnosis would be more objective with the help of volumetry MRI diagnosis models according to analysis of the results in different age groups regarding the many implicated brain structures.
Our clinical study included 25 autistic children (20 males and 5 females). The range of age for the cases was (3-9 years old); the mean age was (5.74 years).
Volumetric analysis of the brain MRI studies in our sample shows no relation between amygdala or hippocampus volumes and a positive diagnosis of autism in children aged 3-9 years.
On the other hand, we found that the diagnosis of ASD in children aged 3-9 years was consistently associated with decreased volume of ventral diencephalon.
A great number of cases also exhibited increased grey matter volume. In the contrary, decreased white matter volume was also noted in a fair number of cases.
Relatively smaller brain stem volume is also noted in a fair number of cases.
No consistent relation could be established in our study between autism and the volumes of CSF, cerebellum, vermis, accumbens, basal forebrain, putamen, caudate, pallidum or thalamus.
In conclusion, volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (volumetry) is a promising technique for imaging that can provide assistance in evaluation of autism in children. Future studies focusing on the ventral DC and especially the hypothalamus is recommended in the light of our results in this study. Further work on ASD volumetry should adopt longitudinal studies with larger sample sized and more age groups