OBJECTIVE: Study of the cerebral ventricular system by ultrasonography with the objective of establishing parameters for the diagnosis of mild ventricular dilatation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective study of 105 healthy, full term infants aged 1-6 months, submitted to monthly scans for morphological data evaluation and measurements of ventricle/ hemisphere ratio, and anteroposterior diameter of frontal horn and fourth ventricle. RESULTS: Normality mean, standard deviation and percentile were obtained for each age range. Negative results were observed in the search for anechoic halo surrounding the posterior two thirds of the choroid plexus on coronal section VI for evaluation of temporal/posterior horns, and the third ventricle was seen as an anechoic cleft < 1 mm on coronal section V in all of the evaluated infants. CONCLUSION: Sonographic findings related to temporal/posterior horns and third ventricle associated with the 95th percentile as upper limit of normality can be utilized as parameters for a simplified diagnosis of mild ventricular dilatation.
Cerebral ventricles; Transfontanelle ultrasonography; Brain ultrasonography; Pediatric sonographic measurements
