History

Third ventricle enlargement has been proposed as a subjective indicator for identifying central brain atrophy in MS patients. This paper seeks to address the anatomical changes of the third ventricle in MS patients by employing simple linear MRI measurements. Fifty brain MRI scans (25 MS patients and 25 healthy controls) performed between 2017 and 2021 were selected. Individuals aged between 23 and 48 years. Five anatomical parameters of the third ventricle were measured by MRI. 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<0.001). We measured the internal transverse diameter of the skull (TD) at the same level of (W2) and calculated the TVR third ventricle ratio where TVR=W2/TD which was statistically significant (p=0.02). The difference between the two groups was insignificant regarding height (H) with (p=0.21) and length (L) with (p=0.6). Data demonstrate that the noteworthy finding was the widening of the third ventricle, regardless of the level of measuring. Changes in height and length were insignificant.