title: Pilot study of brain morphometry in a sample of Brazilian children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: influence of clinical presentation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Currently, the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rests on clinical criteria. Nonetheless, neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that children with ADHD have different cortical thickness and volume measures to typically developing children (TDC). In general, studies do not evaluate the influence of clinical presentation in the brain morphometry of ADHD children. Our objective was to perform a pilot study in order to evaluate cortical thickness and brain volume in a sample of Brazilian ADHD children and compare these to those of TDC, taking into account the influence of clinical presentation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed an analytic study comparing 17 drug-naïve ADHD children of both genders, aged between 7 and 10, and 16 TDC. ADHD subjects were first considered as one group and further separated based on clinical presentation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The brain volume did not differ between patients and TDC. Smaller cortical thicknesses were identified on the left superior, medium and inferior temporal cortex, as well as in the left inferior parietal cortex. When compared to TDC, combined and inattentive ADHD presentations depicted smaller cortical thickness with high significance and power. The same magnitude of results was not observed when comparing inattentive ADHD and TDC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this pilot study, ADHD is associated with abnormalities involving the cortical thickness of the posterior attentional system. The cortical thickness in the left superior, medium and inferior temporal cortex, as well as in the left inferior parietal cortex may differ according to ADHD presentations.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Pediatria, Instituto de Puericultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira, UFRJ, Rua Bruno Lobo, 50 - Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. giuseppe.pastura@ippmg.ufrj.br.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pastura
authors.affiliation: CDPI Neuroimaging (Rio de Janeiro), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tadeu Takao Almodovar
authors.initials: TTA
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Emerson Leandro
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Gasparetto
authors.affiliation: COPPEAD Institute, The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Otavio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mattos
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prüfer Araújo
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects
keywords: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Children; Cortex; Cortical thickness