Brain swelling and ventricle size.

Cerebral ventricle size was measured in one hundred normal people, age 10 to 50 years. The measurements were obtained from computed tomographic (CT) scan examinations, using the Huckman (1975) method. Normal ventricles were significantly bigger at age 45 than at age 15. These normals were compared to groups of patients with pseudotumor cerebri, water intoxication and cerebral edema, and cerebral hypoxia and edema due to cardio-respiratory arrest. The relative ventricular size was the same in the normal group and all three disease groups. Measurement of ventricle size from CT scan images is not even a crude index of cerebral edema in these three diseases.