A Review on Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis Using Task-Based Functional Mri

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with impairments in social and lingual abilities. The current gold standard for diagnosis is the autism diagnostic observation schedule (ADOS) combined with expert clinical judgement. The actual cause for autism is still unknown. Early ASD diagnosis is critical for conducting personalized treatment plans and can lead to significant development enhancements. Machine learning techniques, especially deep learning, have been widely incorporated in attempts to develop objective computer-aided technologies to diagnose autism with brain imaging modalities. Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (TfMRI) is a brain imaging modality that reveals functional activity of the brain in response to different experiments to study the effects of a brain disease or disorder. This study provides a comprehensive review of research that deploys traditional machine learning and deep learning techniques in diagnosing ASD based on TfMRI. Classification results manifest that TfMRI holds early autism biomarkers and suggests future research to establish multi-modal studies that integrate TfMRI with structural, functional, clinical and gnomic data with higher number of participating subjects.

Auditory language comprehension among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: An ALE meta‐analysis of fMRI studies

“…First, the early identification and prognosis prediction of autism have long been challenging due to the lack of objective methods (Lai et al, 2020). Recent studies have investigated the possibility of using neuroimaging methods, such as fMRI, to assist in these processes (Haweel et al, 2021). As several brain regions were found in our study to display distinct activation patterns between children/adolescents with and those without autism during auditory language comprehension tasks, future clinical studies should explore the potential of these brain regions to serve as biomarkers of autism and its co-occurring language difficulties to facilitate early identification and prognosis prediction.…”

The Neurological Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…In diagnosing ASD, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalogram (EEG) serve as principal neurological approaches, each offering distinct insights into brain function. fMRI delves into the nuances of the brain's functionality and structural elements related to social interaction and cognition, exposing hypo-activation in regions like the superior temporal sulcus (STS), middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and amygdala (AMY) in individuals with ASD [3]. These areas, integral for emotional face perception and empathetic reactions, exhibit irregularities reflective of compromised emotional response and empathy in ASD patients compared to controls.…”