Caudate Volumes in Childhood Predict Severity of Tourette Syndrome in Early Adulthood

Basal ganglia volumes of 43 children with Tourette syndrome (TS) were measured on MRI before age 14 years, and clinical assessment conducted after age 16, an average of 7.5 years later, at Yale University, New Haven, CT, and Columbia University. New York. Caudate nucleus volumes correlated significantly and inversely with severity of tic and OCD symptoms in early adulthood, but not at the time of the MRI scan. Caudate morphological pathology is central to the persistence of TS in adults. [1]