A comparative study of brain atrophy by computerized tomography in chronic renal failure and chronic hemodialysis

Abstract

Measurement of the cerebral ventricular system, by means of computerized tomography, was performed in 25 patients suffering from end-stage chronic renal failure (ESCRF) and in 45 undergoing chronic hemodialysis (CH) to estimate the degree of brain atrophy. Significant enlargement of the ventricular size was found in both groups in comparison with the controls, with the greatest enlargement in the group of patients undergoing hemodialysis. This ventricular enlargement expresses the degree of brain atrophy, which, in the patients with ESCRF, may be due to the metabolic factors of the renal disease and, in the hemodialyzed patients, to Al toxicity.