Age-related changes in cerebral index and thalamic size in mesocephalians

Objective: to identify the pattern of age-related changes in the cerebral index and to determine the dynamics of transverse and longitudinal thalamic dimensions in mesocephalians according to magnetic resonance imaging. Material and methods. The data of magnetic resonance imaging of the brain of 78 people (37 men and 41 women) were analyzed. Depending on the age, all the subjects were divided into two groups. Group I consisted of 43 people (21 men and 22 women) of the first period of adulthood (29.19±0.73 years), group II - 35 people (16 men and 19 women) of senile age (78.97 ± 0.61 years). The cranial width index and cranial length index were calculated from the outermost protruding points on the axial section in 3D reconstruction mode. Morphometric examination of the thalamus included determining its linear dimensions in the axial plane: transverse (distances from the most distant medial and lateral points) and longitudinal (distances from the most distant anterior and posterior points). Results. Analysis of head index values revealed their statistically significant prevalence in men compared to women in the first period of adulthood (p<0.01). In old age, there were no sex differences, but there was a tendency for the values of the head index to prevail in men compared to women (p>0.05). Transverse and longitudinal dimensions of the thalamus in both hemispheres were found to be predominant in both males and females in the first period of adulthood in comparison with old age (p<0,01). When comparing the thalamic dimensions of the right and left hemispheres, both in the first period of adulthood and in senile age, no statistically significant differences in parameters were found, but there was a tendency for their predominance in the left thalamus (p>0.05). Conclusion. The results obtained in this study add to the information available in the scientific literature on age-related changes in the cerebral index as well as on the morphometric characteristics of the thalamus in both sexes during the first period of adulthood and in old age, making it possible to implement a personified approach in medical practice as well as to use these data in further clinical and basic research.

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