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Updated: May 10, 2026

A Method of Trigonometric Modelling of Seasonal Variation Demonstrated with Multiple Sclerosis Relapse Data
Published on: December 9, 2015
Width of 3. Ventricle: reference values and clinical relevance in a cohort of patients with relapsing remitting
Martin Müller1, Regina Esser, Katarina Kötter
1Department of Neurology, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Spitalstrasse, CH-6000 Luzern, Switzerland ; Department of Internal Medicine, Spital Zollikerberg, Trichtenhauserstr. 20, CH-8125 Zollikerberg, Switzerland.
Objectives:
To estimate the quantity of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with brain atrophy as indicated by third ventricular enlargement using transcranial colourcoded ultrasound (TCCS).
Methods:
The width of the 3. ventricle was assessed by TCCS in 70 healthy controls (male 31, female 39, mean age 41 ± 15 years, age range 18 - 79 years), and in a cohort of 54 patients with relapsing remitting MS (male 16, female 38, mean age 40 ± 10 years, median EDSS 2 [1-3]).
Results:
In the controls, the width of the 3. ventricle increased with age (without any sex differences) from 3.0 ± 0.76 mm in the age group < 40 years to 4.0 ± 0.74 mm in the age group of 60 years or more (ANOVA p=0.0001). Derived from regression analysis, the upper limit of the 95% Confidence Interval for each year provided cutoff points according to which 14 of 54 patients (25%) exhibited an enlarged 3. ventricle. In a multivariate regression analysis, the width of the 3. ventricle over all MS patients was significantly related to EDSS (Spearman rho , r=0.446, p<0.005) and to MS duration (r=0.319, p<0.005).
Conclusions:
Even in MS patients in good clinical conditions the rate of patients with brain atrophy determined by TCCS is high.
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