Computerized tomography in the diagnosis of cerebral atrophy

SxY NOPS IS Computerized tomograms were studied of67 adults whose lumbarpneumoencephalograms were normal or showed ventricular dilatation with or without widening of the sulci. The maximum ventricular area, measured from 80 x 80 matrix printouts, correlates well with measures of ventricular size on the pneumoencephalogram. An area of 10 cm2 is suggested as the upper limit of normal. The correlation between measures of sulcal width on computerized tomography and pneumoencephalo-graphy is less precise, but normal sulci and gross degrees of cortical atrophy can be identified. The diagnosis of cerebral atrophy may be made in vivo by pneumoencephalography, which can show the presence of symmetrical ventricular dilatation and widening of the cortical sulci. The advent of computerized tomography (Ambrose, 1973; Hounsfield, 1973) has made the same phenomena demonstrable by a technique which is non-invasive and therefore more widely applicable. Gawler et al. (1976) have found excellent general agreement between measure-ments of various ventricular dimensions on computerized tomography and pneumoence-phalography, but less satisfactory correlation for sulcal widening. The present study was undertaken to investigate the criteria by which simple measurements of these two aspects of cerebral atrophy might be made by computerized tomography