PREVALENCE OF LATERAL VENTRICLE ASYMMETRY IN BRAIN MRI STUDIES OF NEUROLOGICALLY NORMAL DOGS AND DOGS WITH IDIOPATHIC EPILEPSY

Abstract

Asymmetry of the cerebral lateral ventricles is a common finding in cross-sectional imaging of otherwise normal canine brains and has been assumed to be incidental. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the prevalence of ventricular asymmetry in brain MRI studies of normal dogs and dogs with idiopathic epilepsy. Brain MRI archives were searched for 100 neurologically normal dogs (Group 1) and 100 dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (Group 2). For each dog, asymmetry of the lateral ventricles was subjectively classified as absent, mild, moderate, and severe based on a consensus of two observers who were unaware of group status. Ventricular areas were measured from transverse T1W images at the level of the interthalamic adhesion. An asymmetry ratio was calculated as the ratio of the larger to smaller ventricular transverse area. There was excellent agreement between subjective assessments of ventricular asymmetry and quantitative assessments using asymmetry ratios (k = 0.995). The prevalence of asymmetry was 38% in Group 1 dogs and 44% in Group 2 dogs. Assymmetry was scored as mild in the majority of Group 2 dogs. There was no significant association between presence/absence and degree of ventricular asymmetry vs. dog group, age, gender, or skull conformation. Findings from the current study supported previously published assumptions that asymmetry of the lateral cerebral ventricles is an incidental finding in MRI studies of the canine brain.