Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Psychiatry and Neuroscience Update

  • 1222 Accesses

Abstract

The attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disease of unknown etiology. Diagnostic criteria were established by the American Psychiatric Association in 2000 and revised in 2013. Although ADHD is characterized by attention-deficit, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, not all the symptoms have to be present. Despite the fact ADHD is one of the most common behavioral disorders in early life, it is infrequently discussed in the current medical literature.

New genetic insights are placing ADHD as a hereditary disease in 80% of cases. Overall the etiology is felt to be multifactorial with a neurobiological base, genes interaction, as well as environmental, perinatal, and psychosocial factors. Therapeutic options as well as the clinical approach in ADHD is expected to improve, particularly due to new insights in its pathogenesis.

Although the diagnosis of ADHD is clinical, we believe that MR imaging can help to evaluate not only brain anatomic structure but functional changes in these patients. In this chapter we review a series of MR techniques to include functional MRI and MR spectroscopy. Many functional MRI studies in ADHD have demonstrated abnormal blood flow or abnormal metabolism within the brain. The anatomic changes are nonspecific; however, larger series with standardized methodology could improve comparison between groups and allow generalization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Hidalgo MI, Rodríguez PJ. Trastorno por Déficit de Atención con Hiperactividad. In: Del Pozo Machuca P, Redondo Romero A, Gancedo García C, Bolívar Galiano V, editors. Tratado de Pediatría Extrahospitalaria. 2nd ed. Ergon: Madrid; 2011. p. 1339–51.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cormier E. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a review and update. J Pediatr Nurs. 2008;23:345–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic criteria from DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: The American Psychiatric Association; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  4. American Psychiatric Association. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th edn (DSM-5). Arlington: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. p. 59.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gurvitis GV, Shenton ME, Hokama H, Ohta H, Lasko NB, Gilbertson MW, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging study of hippocampal volume in chronic, combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 1996;40:1091–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Natsume J, Watabane K, Tadokoro M, Negoro T, Aso K, Nakashima S, et al. Widespread glucose hypometabolism in patients with hippocampal atrophy: evaluation with ffluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. J Epilepsy. 1997;10:155–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Moore CM, Biederman J, Wozniak J, Mick E, Aleardi M, Wardrop M, et al. Differences in brain chemistry in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with and without comorbid bipolar disorder: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Am J Psychiatry. 2006;163:316–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Biederman J, Mick E, Faraone SV. Age-dependent decline of symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: impact of remission definition and symptom type. Am J Psychiatry. 2000;157:816–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Spencer TJ, Biederman J, Wilens TE, Faraone SV. Overview and neurobiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63:3–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Biederman J, Newcorn J, Sprich S. Comorbidity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with conduct, depressive, anxiety, and other disorders. Am J Psychiatry. 1991;148:564–77.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. A comparison of methods for the automated calculation of volumes and atrophy rates in the hippocampus. Neuroimage. 2008;40:1655-1671

    Google Scholar 

  12. Castellanos FX, Lee PP, Sharp W, Jeffries NO, Greenstein DK, Clasen LS, et al. Developmental trajectories of brain volume abnormalities in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. JAMA. 2002;288:1740–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Seidman LJ, Valera EM, Makris N. Structural brain imaging of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2005;57:1263–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Castellanos FX, Giedd JN, Eckburg P, Marsh WL, Vaituzis AC, Kaysen D, et al. Quantitative morphology of the caudate nucleus in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 1994;151:1791–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Castellanos FX, Giedd JN, Berquin PC, Walter JM, Sharp W, Tran T, et al. Quantitative brain magnetic resonance imaging in girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001;58:289–95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Castellanos FX, Giedd JN, Marsh WL, Hamburger SD, Vaituzis AC, Dickstein DP, et al. Quantitative brain magnetic resonance imaging in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996;53:607–16.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Nakao T, Radua J, Rubia K, Mataix-Cols D. Gray matter volume abnormalities in ADHD: voxel-based metaanalysis exploring the effects of age and stimulant medication. Am J Psychiatry. 2011;168:1154–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Frodl T, Skokauskas N. Meta-analysis of structural MRI studies in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder indicates treatment effects. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2012;125:114–26.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Sethi A, Evelyn-Rahr E, Dowell N, Jain S, Voon V, Critchley HD, et al. Magnetization transfer imaging identifies basal ganglia abnormalities in adult ADHD that are invisible to conventional T1 weighted voxel-based morphometry. Neuroimage Clin. 2017;15:8–14.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Reynolds JE, Licari MK, Reid SL, Elliott C, Winsor AM, Bynevelt M, et al. Reduced relative volume in motor and attention regions in developmental coordination disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2017;58:59–64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Kumar U, Arya A, Agarwal V. Neural alterations in ADHD children as indicated by voxel-based cortical thickness and morphometry analysis. Brain and Development. 2017;39:403–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Bralten J, Greven CU, Franke B, Mennes M, Zwiers MP, Rommelse NN, et al. Voxel-based morphometry analysis reveals frontal brain differences in participants with ADHD and their unaffected siblings. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2016;41:272–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Cha J, Fekete T, Siciliano F, Biezonski D, Greenhill L, Pliszka SR, et al. Neural correlates of aggression in medication-naive children with ADHD: multivariate analysis of morphometry and tractography. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2015;40:1717–25.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Bonath B, Tegelbeckers J, Wilke M, Flechtner HH, Krauel K. Regional gray matter volume differences between adolescents with ADHD and typically developing controls: further evidence for anterior cingulate involvement. J Atten Disord. 2018;22:627–38.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rogers JC, De Brito SA. Cortical and subcortical gray matter volume in youths with conduct problems: a meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiat. 2016;73:64–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Mahone EM, Wodka EL. The neurobiological profile of girls with ADHD. Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2008;14:276–84.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Ramtekkar UP, Reiersen AM, Todorov AA, Todd RD. Sex and age differences in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and diagnoses: implications for DSM-V and ICD-11. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010;49:217–28.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Sörös P, Bachmann K, Lam AP, Kanat M, Hoxhaj E, Matthies S, et al. Inattention predicts increased thickness of left occipital cortex in men with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Front Psych. 2017;8:170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Nickel K, Tebartz van Elst L, Perlov E, Jitten-Schachenmeier R, Beier D, Endres D, Goll P, et al. Manual morphometry of hippocampus and amygdala in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2017;267:32–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Moreno-Alcázar A, Ramos-Quiroga JA, Radua J, Salavert J, Palomar G, Bosch R, et al. Brain abnormalities in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder revealed by voxel-based morphometry. Psychiatry Res. 2016;254:41–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Maier S, Perlov E, Graf E, Dieter E, Sobanski E, Rump M, et al. Discrete global but no focal gray matter volume reductions in unmedicated adult patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2016;80:905–15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Sun H, Chen Y, Huang Q, Lui S, Huang X, Shi Y, et al. Psychoradiologic utility of MR imaging for diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a radiomics analysis. Radiology. 2018;287:620–30.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Noordermeer SDS, Luman M, Greven CU, Veroude K, Faraone SV, Hartman CA, et al. Structural brain abnormalities of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with oppositional defiant disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2017;82:642–50.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Kessler D, Angstadt M, Welsh RC, Sripada C. Modality-spanning deficits in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in functional networks, gray matter, and white matter. J Neurosci. 2014;34:16555–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Quintero J, Navas M, Fernández A, Ortiz T. Avances en el trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad. ¿Qué nos aporta la neuroimagen? Actas Esp Psiquiatr. 2009;37:352–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Dickstein SG, Bannon K, Castellanos FX, Milham MP. The neural correlates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an ALE meta-analysis. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47:1051–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Tao J, Jiang X, Wang X, Liu H, Qian A, Yang C, et al. Disrupted control-related functional brain networks in drug-naive children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Front Psych. 2017;8:246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Hong J, Park BY, Cho HH, Park H. Age-related connectivity differences between attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder patients and typically developing subjects: a resting-state functional MRI study. Neural Regen Res. 2017;12:1640–7.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Zametkin AJ, Liebenauer LL, Fitzgerald GA, King AC, Minkunas DV, Herscovitch P, et al. Brain metabolism in teenagers with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1993;50:333–40.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Ernst M, Cohen RM, Liebenauer LL, Jons PH, Zametkin AJ. Cerebral glucose metabolism in adolescent girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997;36:1399–406.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Albin R, Greenamyre J. Alternative excitotoxic hypotheses. Neurology. 1992;42:733–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Carlsson A, Hansson LO, Waters N, Carlsson ML. A glutamatergic deficiency model of schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry. 1999;37:2–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Carlsson A, Waters N, Carlsson ML. Neurotransmitter interactions in schizophrenia _ therapeutic implications. Biol Psychiatry. 1999;46:1388–95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Krause J, Dresel SH, Krause KH, La Fougere C, Zill P, Ackenheil M. Striatal dopamine transporter availability and DAT-1 gene in adults with ADHD: no higher DAT availability in patients with homozygosity for the 10-repeat allele. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2006;7:152–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Tebartz van Elst L, Valerius G, Buchert M, Thiel T, Rusch N, Bubl E. Increased prefrontal and hippocampal glutamate concentration in schizophrenia: evidence from a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Biol Psychiatry. 2005;58:724–30.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Olbrich HM, Valerius G, Rusch N, Buchert M, Thiel T, Hennig J, Ebert D, Van Elst LT. Frontolimbic glutamate alterations in first episode schizophrenia: evidence from a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2008;9(1):59–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Fayed N, Olmos S, Morales H, Modrego PJ. Physical basis of magnetic resonance spectroscopy and its application to central nervous system diseases. Am J Appl Sci. 2006;3:1836–45.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Yeo RA, Hill DE, Campbell RA, Vigil J, Petropoulos H, Hart B, et al. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy investigation of the right frontal lobe in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2003;42:303–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Courvoisie H, Hooper SR, Fine C, Kwock L, Castillo M. Neurometabolic functioning and neuropsychological correlates in children with ADHD-H: preliminary findings. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2004;16:63–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Fayed N, Modrego PJ. Comparative study of cerebral white matter in autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder by means of magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Acad Radiol. 2005;12:566–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Fayed N, Modrego PJ, Castillo J, Dávila J. Evidence of brain dysfunction in attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder: a controlled study with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Acad Radiol. 2007;14:1029–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Stanley JA, Kipp H, Greisenegger E, MacMaster FP, Panchalingam K, Keshavan MS, et al. Evidence of developmental alterations in cortical and subcortical regions of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a multivoxel in vivo phosphorus 31 spectroscopy study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65:1419–28.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Section of Neuroradiology, Quirónsalud Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain

    Nicolás Miguel Fayed

  2. Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Humberto Morales

  3. Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Carlos Torres

  4. Departament of Hematology, Miguel Servet Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain

    Alicia Fayed Coca

  5. Department of Radiology, Quirónsalud Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain

    Luisa F. Ángel Ríos

Authors
  1. Nicolás Miguel Fayed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Humberto Morales
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Carlos Torres
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alicia Fayed Coca
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Luisa F. Ángel Ríos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicolás Miguel Fayed .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neurosciences and Experimental Psychology Latin American Technological Corporation Foundation (FUCOTEL) Cathedra of Psychopathology, Catholic University of Argentina Area of Pharmacology Department of Pathology, National University of Cuyo CONICET, Guaymallén, Mendoza, Argentina

    Pascual Ángel Gargiulo

  2. National Academy of Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Humberto Luis Mesones Arroyo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Fayed, N.M., Morales, H., Torres, C., Fayed Coca, A., Ángel Ríos, L.F. (2021). Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In: Gargiulo, P.Á., Mesones Arroyo, H.L. (eds) Psychiatry and Neuroscience Update. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61721-9_44

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61721-9_44

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-61720-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-61721-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation