T. S. Komshuk

Bukovinian State Medical University, Chernivtsi

GENDER PECULIARITIES OF BRAIN CEREBROSPINAL FLUID SYSTEM IN ELDERLY PERSONS

Summary. Introduction into medical practice of new methods of neuroimaging — computer and magnetic resonance tomography, changed principles of diagnosis of brain morphological changes and opened new horizons in the research of its structure. The aim of our research was to evaluate morphometric parameters of the ventricular system of the brain based on the results of MRI of elderly persons (females of 56-74 years, males of 61-74 years). Object and methods. A survey was conducted in the department of radiation diagnosis of the clinical institution «Rivne Regional Clinical Hospital» on the computer tomograph General Electric Nealthcare «SignaMRI 1,5T» and in the office of magnetic resonance tomography of the clinical institution «Lutsk Clinical Hospital» on the computer tomograph Signa Profile Ce Medical Sistem - 1,5 Tl in standard anatomical planes (sagittal, frontal and axial). The measurements were carried out on people without visual signs of organic lesions of the brain and skull. 38 tomograms of elderly patients (14 males and 24 females) were analyzed. 13 morphometric parameters of the brain cerebrospinal fluid system were investigated, namely the size of lateral, the third and fourth brain ventricles and the length of aqueductus cerebri in elderly persons of both sexes. In the course of the research we determined the prevalence of a size of the ventricular system of the brain in males, namely the length of the anterior horns of the lateral ventricles on both sides, the length of the body of the lateral ventricles on right and left parts, width of the posterior horns of the lateral ventricles and the length of the lower right and left horns, anteroposterior dimensions of the lateral ventricles and the length of the III and IV ventricles. Significant interhemispheric asymmetry with an increased body, width and length of the rear horn of the lateral ventricle in males, increasing of the length of the lower horn of the lateral ventricle on the right side both in male and female, increasing of the anteroposterior size of the left lateral ventricle in men were observed. It can be assumed that this age structural reorganization of the brain is caused by persistent metabolic changes that occur in the brain during the «aging». Conclusions. Thus, there is a reason to believe that the presented intravital morphometric characteristic of the human brain of elderly persons and the identified on this basis criteria of age brain reorganization may be of great interest to experts in the field of age anatomy, neurophysiology and neurosurgery, and for specialists of MRI-diagnostic can be an anatomical standard of the ventricular system of the brain.

Keywords: the ventricular system, elderly persons, MRI, males, females, morphometry