Width of the third ventricle of cerebrum (TVW)

Width of the third ventricle of cerebrum should be in the ranges 4.5 – 6 mm (normal values). The size of third ventricle is greatly dependent on a number of factors, participating in the regulation and distribution of water metabolism in the body. We can distinguish 5 factors, which are involved into water metabolism and determine moving of liquids between various mediums in a body:

1. Osmotic pressure, which depends on the difference between concentrations of substances, dissolved in liquids, which are separated with semi-impermeable membrane.

2. Hydrostatic pressure, which appears in vascular lumen, as a result of heart contraction. The balance between hydrostatic, hydrodynamic and oncotic pressures defines the transfer of liquids between vessels and tissues.

3. Permeability of cells’ walls, vessels and other membranes, which depends on certain biochemical processes.

4. Active biological mechanism of ion migration. The systems of active transfer carry out moving of substances against their concentration gradient with the consumption of macroergic phosphate energy.

5. Active regulatory mechanisms, which estimate the level of losses of water and sodium in the key areas, representative points of an organism where internal and external environments are in contact. First of all, these are renal regulating mechanism, pituitary antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone.

Third Ventricle Width is a Reliable and Clinically-Feasible Marker of Brain Atrophy in the Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care Setting.

Third ventricular enlargement in early stages of multiple sclerosis is a predictor of motor and neuropsychological deficits.

The third ventricle: its width and height (a) Width of the third ventricle measured on a coronal plane which includes the interventricular foramina (m. 10). (b) Height of the third ventricle measured on the median sagittal plane through the midst of the interthalamic adhesion (m. 11) 

1.       https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3664451/

2.       Simon JH, Jacobs LD, Campion MK, et al. A longitudinal study of brain atrophy in relapsing multiple sclerosis. The Multiple Sclerosis Collaborative Research Group (MSCRG) Neurology. 1999;53:139–48. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

3.       Rudick RA, Fisher E, Lee JC, Simon J, Jacobs L. Multiple Sclerosis Collaborative Research Group. Use of the brain parenchymal fraction to measure whole brain atrophy in relapsing-remitting MS. Neurology. 1999;53:1698–704. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

4.       Fisher E, Lee JC, Nakamura K, Rudick RA. Gray matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis: a longitudinal study. Ann Neurol. 2008;64:255–65. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

5.       https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10696630_Anatomy_of_the_cerebral_ventricular_system_for_endoscopic_neurosurgery_A_magnetic_resonance_study

6.       https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/9/e003582