CHICAGO (WBBM) - Researchers meeting at the Radiological Society of North America conference in Chicago this week are revealing new conclusions today about brain waves in autistic children.

Most cases of autism are diagnosed around age 2, when behavior can be observed.

But when doctors can look at brain waves and find a unique mark of autism in those brain waves, children can be diagnosed by age 1, and that could mean better treatment.

Dr. Philip Alderson, spokesman for the Radiological Society of North America, says researchers found a different brain wave response in autistic children.

"That suggests that that part of the brain that was seen to be different is a part of the brain that is, in these particular autistics, not normal.  It could point you to something that would help you further investigate that part of the brain and get to the thing we'd all like to get to, which is some of the cause of autism."

The authors of the study, whose conclusions are being announced today in Chicago, say autistic children seem to have a split-second delay in processing sounds.

Among the other issues being presented today at RSNA:

-- New approaches to breast cancer diagnosis, specifically trying to be more precise about lesions that other diagnostic techniques cannot declare as malignant or non-malignant before a biopsy.

-- A new treatment for plantar fasciitis, foot pain which afflicts runners and the elderly.

Study results were prepared for release Monday at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.

On the Net:
   Autism: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/autism.html 
   Radiological Society: http://www.rsna.org