Study of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Completed

Conditions studied: Attention Deficit Disorder With Hyperactivity

In brief

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a condition characterized by a decreased attention span, hyperactivity, and/or impulsiveness inappropriate for a certain age. Typically, young children have what are known as subtle neurological signs. These are involuntary movements of one part of the body that occur while the child is making a voluntary movement of another part of the body. This is referred to as synkinesis, or overflow movements. These overflow movements disappear during normal development and are usually gone by the age of 10. However, in children with ADHD these overflow movements tend to be more intense and last long after the age of 10. This leads researchers to believe there is an abnormality in the maturation and development of the brain areas associated with motor activity in children with ADHD. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique that gives information about brain function. It is very useful when studying areas of the nervous system related to motor activity (motor cortex, corticospinal tract, and corpus callosum). A magnetic signal given from a special instrument held close to the patient's head stimulates a small area of the brain that controls a few muscles (for example, the muscles that control one finger). Doctors put electrodes (small pieces of metal taped to areas of the body) over the muscle to measure the electrical activity the muscle produces when it makes a movement. When the magnetic signal activates those muscles the electrodes pick up and record the electrical activity of the movement that the muscles make in response to the magnetic signal. Researchers will study normal children and those diagnosed with ADHD using TMS to find out if the clinical abnormalities of ADHD are associated with a delay or abnormality in maturation of areas of the nervous system responsible for motor activity (motor cortex and corticospinal tract).

Key facts

Study ID: NCT00001915
Run by: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
People needed: 200
Starts: 1999-01-01
Expected to finish: 2004-02-01
Last updated by the study team: 2008-03-04

Who can join

Age: any. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

Boys and girls 9 to 13 years of age.
Right handed subjects only.
Subjects that are off stimulant medications.
Children who undergo a medication washout as a part of a different study or are on a planned drug holigay will be allowed to enroll in the study once they have bee off the medications for at least 10 days.
Adult men with a history of ADHD between 18 and 30 years and healthy age-matched normal volunteers.

You may not qualify if…

Patients with neurological disorders will be excluded. In particular, persons with a personal or family history of seizures or epilepsy; structural cerebral disorders (e.g. hemiplegia or other abnormalities of the corticospinal tracts). We will also exclude from our study any persons who have a personal or family history of sensorineural loss. Person with abnormally decreased pigmentation (albinism) will also be excluded from the study.
Patients with a chronic motor or vocal tic disorder or Tourette Syndrome. Children with tics, not meeting DSM-III criteria for tic disorder will be allowed to enroll in the study.
Children with localizing neurological signs (asymmetric deep tendon reflexes (DTRs), dysmetria, hypotonia) will also be excluded.
Children with psychiatric disorders other than oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) will be excluded from study.
Children who have dyslexia and learning disabilities but do not have ADHD will be excluded.
Children with ADHS who are on a stimulant medication will be excluded from enrollment in the study.
HEALTHY CONTROLS:
Healthy controls cannot have any of the exclusionary conditions mentioned above and, by definition, must necessarily be free of ADHD symptoms.

Where it is running

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) — Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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