MR measurements of corpus callosum in normal adults

To evaluate criterial for detecting corpus callosum (CC) abnormality, measurements of CC were done in 100 Korean adults on midline sagittal T1 weighted images using the spin echo technique with a 2.0 Tesla MR unit. The mean (± SD) anteroposterior diameter of CC, and the mean (± SD ) thicknesses of genu, body, transition, and splenium were 71.1 ± 5.0, 11.2 ± 1.6, 5.7 ± 1.0, 3.6 ± 1.0, and 11.6 ± 1.6mm, respectively. The outlines of CC were traced directly from the scans, and the maximal anteroposterior length of the CC was divided into quartiles. Area measurements of the anterior quartile, body, splenium, and whole CC were made with a digitizer pad and computer, and the mean (± SD) areas of these were 211 ± 36, 194 ± 36, 205 ± 34, and 610 ± 90mm, respectively. The following ratios were calculated; Maximum anteroposterior diameter of CC/length of brain, area of anterior quartile/area of whole CC, area of body/area of whole CC, and area of splenium/area of whole CC. There was a statistically significant increase of maximum anteroposterior diameter of CC/length of brain by age, and a statistically significant decrease of the area of the body by age. However, there were no statistically significant differences of all measurements between males and females