Study of the Effect of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on a Sample of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Background: attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorder that affects children and young adults and cause significant functional impairment. Although there are effective medications and psychobehavioural therapies that help with management of ADHD, the medications can have significant side effects, which limit their use. There is need to explore other treatment options. transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are recent safe and non-invasive investigative and therapeutic tools. Aim of the work: to study the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on a sample of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Methods: the sample was consisted of (35) child; their ages were ranged from 6 to 12 years old after diagnosed clinically according to DSM-5 through a designed semi structured interview and through application of Conner’s teacher-28 and parent-48 rating scalesas ADHD combined type. Females were (11) children with percentage 31.4%, while males were (24) children with percentage 68.6%. All patients on the sample were not receiving any medical or behavioral therapy for ADHD. Results: means scores of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity were reduced significantly in the post 5 days and 2 weeks follow up (P-values > 0.001(, started to rise again in its evaluation after 4 weeks but not reaching its values before rTMS sessions. the percentage of severe cases in each scale category was dramatically decreased immediately and 2 weeks after rTMS sessions and started to rise again in its evaluation after 4 weeks but to lower percent than before rTMS sessions (70%, 100% and 60% had severe inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity respectively before rTMS, reduced to 0%, 0%, 10% immediately and 2 weeks after rTMS but increased to (20%, 40% and 40%) after 4 weeks. no patient experienced any significant adverse effects during the study, except 3 children reported mild headache that resolved spontaneously within an hour without medication. Conclusion: this study concluded that r TMS over left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex may be safe and effective way of providing relatively lasting relief of ADHD symptoms especially in children with severe symptoms.