The frontal and temporal horn ratio to assess dimension of paediatric hydrocephalus: a comparative volumetric study.

Magnetic resonance imaging and cranial -ultrasound are the most frequently implemented imaging methods for investigating the infantile hydrocephalic brain. A general and reliable measurement index that can be equally applied in both imaging methods to assess dimension of ventricular dilatation is currently not available. For this purpose, a new parameter called the frontal and temporal horn ratio - determinable in coronal slices of the brain - was developed and evaluated in a comparative volumetric retrospective study: Statistical analyses of 118 MRIs of 46 different shunt-treated pediatric patients revealed a good linear correlation between the new index and the actual ventricular volume.