Volume measurement of thalami in normal Chinese Han nationality adults by the high-resolution MRI / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo measure the volume of thalamus in 1000 healthy Chinese Han nationality adults,and to analyze the relationship between thalamic volume and age,sex,weight and cerebral volume,to provide reliable data for the construction of database of Chinese adults' digital standard brain.Methods Totally 1000 healthy Chinese adults of Han nationality aged from 18 to 80 years were recruited.They were divided into 5 groups by age18-30,31-40,41-50,51-60 and 61-80 years.Each group included 100 males and 100 females.Brain images were obtained on a 1.5 T MR,and the outline of thalami was drawn with Aquariusws software.Then the thalamic volume was calculated automatically.The volumes of left and right thalamus were compared by paired sample t-test.Thalamic volumes of the same side were compared between males and females by independent sample t-test.And thalamic volumes of different age groups were compared by one-way ANOVA.The relationships between thalamic volume and age,sex,weight and cerebral volume were analyzed respectively.ResultsThe males' standardized volumes of left and right thalamus of healthy Chinese Han nationality adults were (5776 ± 780),(5655 ± 759) mm3,and they were (5464 ±573 ),(5360 ± 542) mm3 for female.The males' thalamic volume was more than the females' on the same side ( t =2.245,2.200,P ＜ 0.01 ).The left thalamic volumes of various age groups were ( 6180 ± 534 ),(6047 ± 562 ),( 5426 ± 471 ),( 5552 ± 526 ),( 4866 ± 552 ) mm3,respectively,while the right thalamic volumes of the 5 groups were ( 6069 ± 532 ),( 5895 ± 539 ),( 5357 ± 480 ),( 5396 ± 445 ),( 4791 ± 558)mm3,respectively.There were statistically significant difference among the 5 groups( F =165.686,165.235,P ＜ 0.01 ).The left and right thalamic volume were all negatively correlated with age ( r =- 0.633,-0.645,P ＜ 0.05 ).ConclusionsWith high resolution 1.5 T MR scanner,grey matter and white matter can be depicted clearly and the outline of thalamic can be discriminated specifically.It is useful for the measurement of thalamic volume and scientific data to build Chinese adults' digital standard brain.