The relationship between regional cerebral blood flow and response to methylphenidate in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: comparison between non-responders to methylphenidate and responders

In a sample of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a voxel based investigation of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during resting state was conducted to identify functional differences between non-responders to methylphenidate (MPH) and responders. Thirty-four children with ADHD were examined by technetium-99m-hexamethylporphylenamine oxime (HMPAO) SPECT. According to clinical response after 8 weeks of treatment with MPH, they were classified as non-responders to MPH and responders. Using SPM analysis, we compared the SPECT images of non-responders to MPH with those of responders. Non-responders to MPH had higher rCBF in the left anterior cingulate cortex, the left claustrum, the right anterior cingulate cortex, and the right putamen relative to responders. In addition, lower rCBF was found in the right superior parietal lobule in non-responders to MPH relative to responders. Further stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that 88.2% could be correctly classified as either non-responders to MPH or responders when considering the extracted rCBF values in the left anterior cingulate cortex, the left claustrum, and the right superior parietal lobule. The current findings suggest that non-responders to MPH may have different patterns of rCBF in brain regions, which have been known as a part of frontal-striatal circuitry and posterior attentional system, respectively.