Practical one-dimensional measurement approach for diagnosis of cerebral atrophy.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral atrophy is the most common finding we encounter in our daily practice. We document it subjectively without an intracranial 3-D software in CT which calculates the cerebral brain volume and is time consuming if available. There is a need for a quantitative parameter for the documentation and detection of cerebral atrophy on sectional imaging. Hence, this study is an attempt to evaluate the role of sylvian fissure depth measurement in diagnosing cerebral atrophy. AIMS: To evaluate cerebral atrophy on a single axial section of MDCT Brain by using a quantitative parameter. MATERIALS & METHODS: 101 patients underwent NCCT BRAIN in our institution. It is a retrospective observational study. In all the patients, brain atrophy was evaluated by measuring sylvian fissure depth on CT brain in axial section, in relation to “cortical atrophy” defined as widening of subarachnoid space. RESULTS: Sylvian fissure depth of 13 mm shows sensitivity of 0.976 and specificity of 0.95.