Quantitative evaluation of pontine atrophy using computer tomography.

Pontine volume was measured and evaluated by computer tomography (CT) in 37 healthy adults and in 29 adult autopsied brains which did not have chronic neurologic diseases. The pons was cut serially into 5 mm slices in the autopsied brains. In the CT examinations both 5 mm and 2 mm slices were studied. Pontine areas in horizontal planes were measured using an image analyzer, then pontine volume was calculated by accumulation of the mean value of the areas and cranio-caudal length. Pontine volume was approximately 19 cm3 and pontine atrophy could be defined as less than 12 cm3 (i.e. the mean - 2 SD) in both methods, which heretofore have not been reported.