Visual rating of magnetic resonance images of human cerebrospinal fluid spaces and white brain matter: relation to sex and age in healthy volunteers.

The size of the cerebrospinal fluid spaces and the occurrence of white matter lesions were estimated from the intracranial volumes of 76 apparently healthy adult volunteers of different ages using 0.02-T/0.8-MHz magnetic resonance imaging. A relation between the occurrence of white matter lesions and the size of cerebrospinal fluid spaces independent of age could not be demonstrated. In men, white matter changes were more numerous and lateral ventricular size was larger, but sex differences were not statistically significant except for lateral ventricular size. The results confirm that age is the most significant parameter correlated with alterations in brain anatomy over time. Body mass and other clinical parameters were not influential factors in the present material.