Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: magnetic resonance imaging morphometric analysis of the corpus callosum.

OBJECTIVE The following study seeks to document possible differences in corpus callosal area and shape between children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls. METHODS Fifteen carefully diagnosed right-handed male subjects with ADHD with overactivity symptomatology were compared to 15 right-handed male control subjects. The corpus callosum was divided into seven areas on the midsagittal slice of a magnetic resonance image with shape analysis also conducted. RESULTS An exploratory shape analysis showed no significant differences in shape between the groups. No group differences were found in the area, length, or anterior regions of the corpus callosum. The ADHD subjects were found to have significantly smaller posterior corpus callosum regions than the control group, with the splenium accounting for most of the variance between the groups. CONCLUSIONS The splenial area of the corpus callosum is smaller in children with ADHD than in a sample of normally developing children. These smaller areas may relate to commonly seen sustained attention deficits which in turn negatively impact on the development of more advanced levels of attention such as self-regulation. Further study of the regions surrounding the splenial area is suggested to determine whether they are correlated in size to the smaller corpus callosum.

[1]  D. Kennedy,et al.  Anatomic segmentation and volumetric calculations in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. , 1989, IEEE transactions on medical imaging.

[2]  Heikki Lyytinen,et al.  Corpus Callosum Morphology in Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder: Morphometric Analysis of MRI , 1991, Journal of learning disabilities.

[3]  H. Orvaschel Psychiatric interviews suitable for use in research with children and adolescents. , 1985, Psychopharmacology bulletin.

[4]  G. Hynd,et al.  Brain morphology in developmental dyslexia and attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity. , 1990, Archives of neurology.

[5]  V S Caviness,et al.  Volumetric analyses of central nervous system neoplasm based on MRI. , 1991, Pediatric neurology.

[6]  Judith M. Rumsey,et al.  Cerebral glucose metabolism in adults with hyperactivity of childhood onset. , 1990 .

[7]  L. Henriksen,et al.  Focal cerebral hypoperfusion in children with dysphasia and/or attention deficit disorder. , 1984, Archives of neurology.

[8]  C. Edelbrock,et al.  Manual for the Child: Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile , 1983 .

[9]  McKay Moore Sohlberg,et al.  Introduction to cognitive rehabilitation , 1989 .

[10]  James S. Duncan,et al.  Boundary Finding with Parametrically Deformable Models , 1992, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[11]  V. Douglas Stop, look and listen: The problem of sustained attention and impulse control in hyperactive and normal children. , 1972 .

[12]  J. Benjamin,et al.  Further evidence for family-genetic risk factors in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Patterns of comorbidity in probands and relatives psychiatrically and pediatrically referred samples. , 1992, Archives of general psychiatry.

[13]  The influences of methylphenidate on heart rate and behavioral measures of attention in hyperactive children. , 1975 .

[14]  V. Douglas,et al.  Sustained attention in hyperactive children. , 1973, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[15]  B. Shaywitz,et al.  Attention deficit disorder , 1983, Neurology.

[16]  W. Pelham,et al.  Dimensions and types of attention deficit disorder. , 1988, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[17]  R. C. Oldfield The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[18]  J. O’Kusky,et al.  The corpus callosum is larger with right‐hemisphere cerebral speech dominance , 1988, Annals of neurology.

[19]  James S. Duncan,et al.  Parametrically deformable contour models , 1989, Proceedings CVPR '89: IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[20]  H. Nasrallah,et al.  Cortical atrophy in young adults with a history of hyperactivity in childhood , 1986, Psychiatry Research.

[21]  D. Kennedy,et al.  Magnetic resonance imaging–based brain morphometry: Development and application to normal subjects , 1989, Annals of neurology.

[22]  R. C. Oldfield THE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS OF HANDEDNESS , 1971 .

[23]  C. Conners,et al.  A teacher rating scale for use in drug studies with children. , 1969, The American journal of psychiatry.

[24]  M. Torrens Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268 , 1990 .

[25]  G. Emslie,et al.  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: The Differential Diagnosis , 1991, Journal of child neurology.

[26]  Torleiv Høien,et al.  Magnetic resonance imaging of the corpus callosum in developmental dyslexia , 1992 .

[27]  M. Posner,et al.  Localization of cognitive operations in the human brain. , 1988, Science.

[28]  P. Holcomb,et al.  Cognitive event-related brain potentials in children with attention and reading deficits. , 1985, Psychophysiology.

[29]  G. Hynd,et al.  Attentional control systems and the Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD) , 1989 .

[30]  G. McCloskey Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised , 1987 .

[31]  S. Kuperman,et al.  Midsagittal Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Autism , 1987, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[32]  V. Douglas,et al.  Toward a Clearer Definition of the Attentional Deficit of Hyperactive Children , 1979 .

[33]  L. Henriksen,et al.  Striatal dysfunction in attention deficit and hyperkinetic disorder. , 1989, Archives of neurology.

[34]  S. Faraone,et al.  Segregation analysis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , 1992 .

[35]  S. F. Witelson Hand and sex differences in the isthmus and genu of the human corpus callosum. A postmortem morphological study. , 1989, Brain : a journal of neurology.