Voxel-based morphometric analyses of the brain in children and adolescentsprenatally exposed to alcohol

Children of mothers who abuse alcohol during pregnancy can suffer varying d egrees of neurological abnormality, cognitive impairment, and behavioral pr oblems, and in the worst case, are diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (F AS). The purpose of the present study was to localize brain abnormalities i n a group of children and adolescents prenatally exposed to alcohol using h igh resolution, 3D structural MRI data and whole-brain voxel-based morphome try (VBM). Data were collected for 21 children and adolescents with histori es of prenatal alcohol exposure (ALC) and 21 normally developing individual s. Statistical parametric maps revealed abnormalities most prominent in the left hemisphere perisylvian cortices of the temporal and parietal lobes wh ere the ALC patients tended to have too much gray matter and not enough whi te matter. These results provide further support for dysmorphology in tempo ro-parietal cortices above and beyond the overall microcephaly that results from severe prenatal alcohol exposure. NeuroReport 12:515-523 (C) 2001 Lip pincott Williams & Wilkins.