CT study of third and fourth ventricle size in South Indian subjects

Abstract

Background and aim: Assessment of normal dimension of cerebral ventricles is important for early detection of changes due to intrinsic and extrinsic pathology producing ventriculomegaly. Hence normal upper and lower limits of the cerebral ventricular system in various age groups and in both sexes are important for diagnosing it. Our aim is to establish a baseline reference value for the third and fourth ventricular width using Computed Tomogram [CT] for normal South Indian population. Materials and methods: 100 subjects aged between 5 to 90 years, comprising of 54 males and 46 females, with normal CT brain were analyzed. Subjects with intracranial and intraventricular pathology were excluded. Axial CT brain was obtained in Siemens Somatom scope multislice slice CT scanner. The widest diameter of the third and fourth ventricles on axial images using linear approach was measured. Student's t test and one way analysis of variance was used. Results: Mean third ventricle size in male: 5.11 +/- 2.37 mm and in female: 4.35 +/- 2.08 mm. Mean fourth ventricle size in male: 13.40 +/- 1.66 mm and in female: 12.84 +/- 1.85 mm. Conclusion: The highest of the dimension in the third ventricle occurs in the highest age group of >60 years in both males and females. There was a steady rise in the third ventricle size across age groups until the seventh decade.

Keywords

• third ventricle
• fourth ventricle
• ct
• ventriculomegaly