Alleviation of ADHD symptoms by non-invasive right prefrontal stimulation is correlated with EEG activity

Publication date: Available online 6 February 2020Source: NeuroImage: ClinicalAuthor(s): Uri Alyagon, Hamutal Shahar, Aviad Hadar, Noam Barnea-Ygael, Avi Lazarovits, Hadar Shalev, Abraham ZangenAbstractAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent disorder with effective pharmacological treatment that benefits most patients. However, about one-third fail to benefit while others search non-pharmacological alternatives, and for those options are scarce. One alternative treatment option is to alter abnormal right prefrontal cortex (rPFC) activity, given that rPFC abnormality has been repeatedly implicated in ADHD neurophathology. Here, we evaluated whether targeting the rPFC with multiple sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which can modulate neuronal excitability, activity, and plasticity in a non-invasive manner, will affect clinical symptoms in adults suffering from ADHD. Concomitantly, we used EEG to characterize electrophysiological alterations induced by treatment and to search for correlation between baseline neuronal activity and clinical response.Forty-three drug free adults with ADHD were randomized to receive either Real, Active Control, or Sham treatment (13 females, age ranging 21-46; n=15, 14, 14, respectively), and underwent three weeks of daily high-frequency (18 Hz) stimulation sessions. We found that Real treatment was safe and resulted in significant improvement of symptoms (η2p=0.34; Cohen's d(against Sham)=0.96;...
Source: NeuroImage: Clinical - Category: Radiology Source Type: research