Brain Volumetric Measurements in Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Comparative Study Between Synthetic and Conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Yingqian Chen,Zhihua Wen,Zhiyun Yang,Miao Fan,Shu Su,Meina Liu,Jianping Chu,Hongyu Zhang,Long Qian,Yan Dai

doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.711528

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the profiles of brain volumetric measurements in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the consistency of these brain volumetric measurements derived from the synthetic and conventional T1 weighted MRI (SyMRI and cT1w MRI).Methods: Brain SyMRI and cT1w images were prospectively collected for 38 pediatric patients with ADHD and 38 healthy children (HC) with an age range of 6–14 years. The gray matter volume (GMV), white matter volume (WMV), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), non-WM/GM/CSF (NoN), myelin, myelin fraction (MYF), brain parenchyma volume (BPV), and intracranial volume (ICV) were automatically estimated from SyMRI data, and the four matching measurements (GMV, WMV, BPV, ICV) were extracted from cT1w images. The group differences of brain volumetric measurements were performed, respectively, using analysis of covariance. Pearson correlation analysis and interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were applied to evaluate the association between synthetic and cT1w MRI-derived measurements.Results: As for the brain volumetric measurements extracted from SyMRI, significantly decreased GMV, WMV, BPV, and increased NON volume (p < 0.05) were found in the ADHD group compared with HC; No group differences were found in ICV, CSF, myelin volume and MYF (p > 0.05). With regard to GMV, WMV, BPV, and ICV estimated from cT1w images, the group differences between ADHD and HC were consistent with the results estimated from SyMRI. And these four measurements showed noticeable correlation between the two approaches (r = 0.692, 0.643, 0.898, 0.789, respectively, p < 0.001; ICC values are 0.809, 0.782, 0.946, 0.873, respectively).Conclusion: Our study demonstrated a global brain development disability, but normal whole-brain myelination in children with ADHD. Moreover, our results demonstrated the high consistency of brain volumetric indices between synthetic and cT1w MRI in children, which indicates the high reliability of SyMRI in the child-brain volumetric analysis.

Highlights

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder that may continue through adolescence and adulthood (Biederman and Faraone, 2005), with a prevalence of 1.4–3.0%
As for the brain volumetric measurements extracted from synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (SyMRI), significantly decreased gray matter volume (GMV), white matter volume (WMV), brain parenchymal volume (BPV), and increased NON volume (p < 0.05) were found in the ADHD group compared with healthy children (HC); No group differences were found in intracranial volume (ICV), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), myelin volume and Myelin fraction (MYF) (p > 0.05)
With regard to GMV, WMV, BPV, and ICV estimated from cT1w images, the group differences between ADHD and HC were consistent with the results estimated from SyMRI

Summary

Introduction

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder that may continue through adolescence and adulthood (Biederman and Faraone, 2005), with a prevalence of 1.4–3.0%. Studies of brain volumetric analysis in ADHD have demonstrated its development abnormalities (Valera et al, 2007; Gehricke et al, 2017; Gui et al, 2019). The reduction of total brain parenchymal volume (BPV) and gray matter volume (GMV) are consistent findings in individuals with ADHD. The change of total white matter volume (WMV) and intracranial volume (ICV) remains controversial (Valera et al, 2007; Frodl and Skokauskas, 2012). Studies focused on brain volumetric analysis in children with ADHD rarely characterize the myelin volume, which plays an important role in child development (Paus et al, 2008). A new approach that can estimate the brain tissue volume, as well as the myelin volume, may be helpful to answer this question

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Conclusion