A magnetic resonance imaging study on the morphological variation of the lateral ventricles in Alzheimer Disease patients

Objective To investigate the variation of the lateral ventricles volume and the angle of lateral ventricles in AD patients. Methods 20 AD patients and 20 healthy persons as the control were enrolled in this study and performed with craniocerebral scanning using 3.0T MRI, respectively. Quantitative measurements were made with stereology, including the volume of lateral ventricles, the relation of the variation of the angle and illness degree. Results There were significant differences between normal controls and patients with AD in the whole volume of lateral ventricles, the left whole volume of lateral ventricles(AD(71.53±3.25)cm3, healthy person(65.39±4.59)cm3, t=-4.88 , P<0.00), the left whole volume of lateral ventricles(AD(36.14±1.75)cm3, healthy person(31.88±3.24)cm3, t=-5.16, P<0.00), the right whole volume of lateral ventricles(AD(35.42±2.89)cm3, healthy person (33.22±2.48)cm3, t=-2.58, P<0.01). There were significant differences between normal controls and patients with AD in left anterior horn and right anterior horn of the lateral ventricles.There were significant differences between normal controls and patients with AD in width of the left temporal horn and the right temporal horn of the lateral ventricles(AD the width of the left temporal horn(5.28±1.72)mm, healthy person(2.13±0.97)mm, t=8.74 , P<0.05, AD the width of right temporal horn(5.13±1.83)mm, healthy person(2.08±1.01 )mm, t=8.01, P<0.05). There was significant correlation between the width of the left temporal horn, the right temporal horn and the scores of MMSE and FOM. Conclusion The changes of the lateral ventricular volume and point of presence of patients with Alzheimer's disease were characteristically which may be reference in evaluating of Alzheimer's disease. Key words: Alzheimer Disease; Lateral ventricles; MRI; Volume; Angle