Brain iron levels could aid in diagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
These iron levels could act as a biomarker for the diagnosis of ADHD and could help parents make the best treatment decisions for their children, a Radiological Society of North America news release reported.
ADHD includes symptoms such as "hyperactivity and difficulty staying focused, paying attention and controlling behavior," the news release reported. Psychostimulant medications such as Ritalin are commonly used to treat these symptoms.
"Much debate and concern has emerged regarding the continual rise of ADHD diagnosis in the U.S. given that two-thirds of those diagnosed receive psychostimulant medications," Vitria Adisetiyo, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina, said in the news release. "We wanted to see if we could identify brain iron as a potential noninvasive biomarker for medication-naïve ADHD to prevent misdiagnosis."
To make their findings the researchers measured the brain levels of 22 children and adolescents suffering from ADHD, 12 of whom had never been on medication (medication naïve). The sample also included 27 healthy control children and adolescents. They monitored brain iron levels using magnetic field correlation imaging.
The team found the 12 ADHD medication naïve patients had lower brain iron levels than the rest of the sample. ADHD patients who had a history of psychostimulant medication had brain iron levels closer to the healthy patients.
"Our research suggests that iron absorption into the brain may be abnormal in ADHD given that atypical brain iron levels are found even when blood iron levels in the body are normal," Doctor Adisetiyo said. "We found no differences in blood iron measures between controls, medication-naïve ADHD patients or pscyhostimulant-medicated ADHD patients."
Magnetic field correlation imaging can noninvasively detect these iron levels and guide ADHD diagnoses.
"We want the public to know that progress is being made in identifying potential noninvasive biological biomarkers of ADHD which may help to prevent misdiagnosis," Doctor Adisetiyo said. "We are currently testing our findings in a larger cohort to confirm that measuring brain iron levels in ADHD is indeed a reliable and clinically feasible biomarker."
