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Prefrontal Dysfunction in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder as Measured by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

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Abstract

Recent developments in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) have enabled non-invasive clarification of brain functions in psychiatric disorders with measurement of hemoglobin concentrations as cerebral blood volume. Twenty medication-naïve children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects participated in the present study after giving consent. The relative concentrations of oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) were measured with frontal probes every 0.1 s during the Stroop color-word task, using 24-channel NIRS machines. During the Stroop color-word task, the oxy-Hb changes in the control group were significantly larger than that in the ADHD group in the inferior prefrontal cortex, especially in the inferior lateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally. The Stroop color-word task used with NIRS may be one useful measurement to assess prefrontal brain dysfunction in ADHD children.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Hitachi Medical Corporation for the ETG-100 equipment and the skilled technical and methodical support. This work was funded by Research Grant (20B-6) for Nervous and Mental Disorders from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan.

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Correspondence to Masayuki Sawada.

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Negoro, H., Sawada, M., Iida, J. et al. Prefrontal Dysfunction in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder as Measured by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 41, 193–203 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-009-0160-y

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