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

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.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping shows lower brain iron content in children with attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…The results of the study found reduced iron content in frontal, temporal, and basal ganglia brain regions in children with ADHD, along with abnormalities in the volume of frontal and hippocampal brain regions (lower than healthy children), which is consistent with the findings of Chen et al (lower brain volume in children with HDAD than healthy children) (Chen, Su, et al, 2021;Chen, Soldan, et al, 2021;Shi et al, 2021), suggesting that the reduced volume of frontal and hippocampal brain regions may be due to decreased iron content in brain regions (reduced iron content in brain regions leads to abnormal development of nerve cells in brain regions, and abnormal development of nerve cells leads to delayed development of brain regions, which eventually leads to decreased volume of brain regions).…”

“…The results of the study found reduced iron content in frontal, temporal, and basal ganglia brain regions in children with ADHD, along with abnormalities in the volume of frontal and hippocampal brain regions (lower than healthy children), which is consistent with the findings of Chen et al (lower brain volume in children with HDAD than healthy children) (Chen, Su, et al, 2021; Chen, Soldan, et al, 2021; Shi et al, 2021), suggesting that the reduced volume of frontal and hippocampal brain regions may be due to decreased iron content in brain regions (reduced iron content in brain regions leads to abnormal development of nerve cells in brain regions, and abnormal development of nerve cells leads to delayed development of brain regions, which eventually leads to decreased volume of brain regions). The normal volume of the basal ganglia brain regions and the decrease in the volume of the frontal and temporal lobes and other brain regions may be due to the fact that the frontal and temporal lobes and other brain regions are larger and developing faster in children, and the decrease in iron content leads to a delay in the development of the brain regions, which eventually leads to a significant decrease in the volume of the brain regions.…”

Reliability of Automated Intracranial Volume Measurements by Synthetic Brain MRI in Children

“…The assessment of the presence or absence of hydrocephalus in cerebral MRIs is a difficult and highly subjective endeavour for radiologists. SyMRI provides experts with an interesting tool to reliably and quickly assess the presence of hydrocephalus or other intracranial volume disorders [3,16]. Our retrospective data analysis focused on the reliability of SyMRI in the clinical-radiological routine of a tertiary center and demonstrated its suitability for its application in children.…”

“…There are some reports on SyMRI in childhood and adolescence in the literature which are primarily focused on the comparability of the SyMRI method and other segmentation algorithms [4,[15][16][17][18]. In our everyday clinical practice at a tertiary pediatric center with a focus on neuropediatrics, SyMRI is generally used in cases of abnormal head circumference or developmental delay when the main task is to determine whether hydrocephalus or brain substance reduction is evident.…”

The value of synthetic MRI in detecting the brain changes and hearing impairment of children with sensorineural hearing loss

“…Studies by Vagberg et al ( 2013 ) have validated SyMRI volumetric analysis as a reliable method for determining brain parenchymal fraction (BPF) in MS, showing that BPF is notably lower in pediatric MS cases, primarily due to GM loss (Yeh et al, 2009 ). These quantitative values are invaluable in evaluating brain tumors, aiding in differentiation between glioblastomas and metastases (Badve et al, 2017 ), as well as revealing the internal structure of tumors and lesions in MS (Granberg et al, 2016 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Nunez-Gonzalez et al, 2022 ). While research on brain relaxation time in SNHL, particularly in children within the first year, is lacking, the potential for SyMRI in exploring this area remains untapped.…”