Functional MRI study of verbal working memory in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Objective: To study the verbal working memory of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as to explore the characteristics of functional areas of verbal working memory with blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Method: Eighteen children were selected in the study. There were 9 ADHD children with inattention subtype and 9 healthy subjects. All patients and healthy subjects completed the cognitive examination and the block- designed N-block verbal working memory task using a GE 3.0 T MR. Data were analyzed by AFNI software. Result: The neural activations of ADHD's children are lower than that of control under verbal working memory. Especially in the areas of bilateral middle frontal gyri and inferior frontal gyri, bilateral superior parietal lobules and inferior parietal lobules, right basal ganglia in the 1-BACK task. And bilateral middle frontal gyri and inferior frontal gyri, bilateral superior parietal lobules, left cortex inferior parietallobule, right basal ganglia, anterior cingulatecortex in the 2-BACK task. Conclusion: The hypofunctional areas of verbal working memory (including bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex) can be seen in the ADHD children especially who also has lower activation of anterior cingulate cortex under 2-BACK task. (authors)