Multiple skleroz hastalarında üçüncü ventrikül ve corpus callosum anatomisinin morfometrik analizi: Manyetik rezonans görüntüleme çalışması

The third ventricle (3V) enlargement and corpus callosum (CC) atrophy have been proposed as subjective indicators for identifying central brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. In spite of the increasing interest in MS-related brain atrophy research, most studies have tended to focus on a few anatomic parameters of the 3V and CC. For a more comprehensive evaluation, this study aims to address the anatomical changes of the 3V and CC in MS patients using easy linear MRI measurements and compare the results with those in the normal population. Fifty brain MRI scans (25 MS patients and 25 healthy controls) performed between 2017 and 2021 were selected from OMU Medical Faculty hospital. Individuals aged between 23 and 48 years. In this study five parameters of the 3V and five parameters of the CC were determined and evaluated. Results demonstrated that patients' mean third ventricular width (W1) measured in the axial plane at the midpoint of the maximum long axis of the ventricle 6.08±2.34 mm was significantly wider compared to controls 2.67±0.63 mm (p = 0.001). The same is true for patients' mean third ventricle width (W2) measured at the level of the interventricular foramen 6.64±1.85 mm, which was also significantly wider compared to controls 3.66±0.64 mm (p = 0.00). An insignificant difference regarding the height of the ventricle (H) with (p = 0.21) and length (L) with (p = 0.6) was noticed. As for the CC parameters, the results of the t-test revealed that there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups for genu G (P = 0.000), body B (P = 0.000), splenium S (P = 0.000), anteroposterior diameter AP (P = 0.008), and corpus callosum index (CCI) (P = 0.000). In conclusion, the noteworthy finding was the widening of the third ventricle, regardless of the level of measurement. MS patients had significantly thinner CC segments than their neurologically normal counterparts. Keywords: Third ventricle, Corpus callosum,Multiple sclerosis, MRI, Brain atrophy.