AGE-DEPENDENT WHITE-MATTER LESIONS AND BRAIN VOLUME CHANGES IN HEALTHY-VOLUNTEERS

The brain of 142 healthy volunteers aged 21 to 80 years were investiga ted using MR imaging. The number and size of the white matter hyperint ensity lesions (WMHL) in the cerebral hemispheres were determined. Fur thermore, the volume of the cerebral hemispheres and of the lateral ve ntricles was measured. An almost linear increase in the number of volu nteers with WMHL was seen with aging for males and females. With aging a significant decrease in the volume of the cerebral hemispheres was found for males, and a significant increase in the volume of the later al ventricles was seen for both males and females. Our results suggest that with aging central atrophy increases more (relatively) than cort ical atrophy. No correlation was found between the decreasing volume o f the cerebral hemispheres and the increasing number and size of WMHL, nor between the increasing volume of the lateral ventricles and the i ncreasing number and size of WMHL.