Abstracts

There is growing awareness of the disability caused by autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Growing evidence suggests that there is epileptiform activity in children with ASD. This study seeks to extend those results to adults. Seven adults (age range 22 to 51) with ASD were studied with whole head MEG. There were five males and two females. One had a history of seizures as a child but none currently are having clinical seizures. All are high functioning. Four patients has perisylvian epileptiform activity, most frequently spikes. Two had spikes indepdently in the right and left temporal leads. Two more had spikes only in the left temporal area. Epileptiform activity similar to that in children with ASD can be seen in adults with ASD and no clinical seizures. We speculate that treatment to reduce this activity may result in a reduction in autistic features in some patients and warrants further investigation.