Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:1424-1429
Copyright © 1997 by American Psychiatric Association
Small planum temporale volume in Down's syndrome: a volumetric MRI study
S Frangou, E Aylward, A Warren, T Sharma, P Barta and G Pearlson
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. s.frangou@iop.bpmf.ac.uk
OBJECTIVE: Down's syndrome is associated with structural brain
abnormalities and language deficits. The aim of this study was to
investigate whether the superior temporal gyrus and the planum temporale,
both parts of the anatomic substrate for language, are abnormal in Down's
syndrome. METHOD: The authors examined volumetric magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) measures of the superior temporal gyrus and the planum
temporale for 17 community-dwelling patients with Down's syndrome and 17
matched healthy comparison subjects. For the subjects with Down's syndrome,
the correlations of the superior temporal gyrus and planum temporale
volumes with performance on tests of language function were examined.
RESULTS: The planum temporale volume of the patients with Down's syndrome
was smaller than that of the healthy subjects, even after differences in
whole brain volume were controlled for. The volume of the superior temporal
gyrus in the Down's syndrome patients was proportionally similar to that of
the comparison group. For the subjects with Down's syndrome, neither
superior temporal gyrus nor planum temporale volume was significantly
correlated with performance on language tests after total brain volume was
controlled for. CONCLUSIONS: In Down's syndrome, planum temporale volume
may be selectively smaller than normal, although the effect of this volume
deficit on language is not clear.
