Subcortical volumetric MRIs were compared in 19 girls (aged 7 to 15 years) with Tourette syndrome (TS) and 21 controls. Eleven of the patients had TS only and 8 had TS with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (TS + ADHD). TS-only patients had significantly smaller lateral ventricles compared with TS + ADHD patients and the control subjects. Putamen asymmetry index as a marker for TS, previously demonstrated in boys with TS, was present in girls with TS and also in control girls with no TS. [1]
COMMENT. In contrast to previous studies involving mainly boys, abnormal lenticular asymmetry does not occur in girls with Tourette syndrome. Girls, with or without TS, exhibit the putamen asymmetry seen in boys. TS-only girls differed from TS + ADHD girls and controls in having significantly smaller lateral ventricles. Future investigations of TS should make distinctions of gender and patients with and without ADHD.