title: Intracranial volume, cranial thickness, and hyperostosis frontalis interna in the elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  According to the "brain reserve hypothesis," a larger premorbid brain protects against the development of dementia. The aim of this study was to reveal a possible pathophysiology of brain degenerative diseases by studying intracranial bone lesions that act to reduce intracranial volume (ICV), such as hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and eighty postmenopausal females (aged 60+) who had undergone a head computerized tomography scan (Brilliance 64, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH) at the Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, before the study were included. The subjects were divided into four groups according to their degree of HFI. Six measurements of the skull and brain were taken.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As HFI becomes more severe, the cranial bone thickness and cranial bone volume increase. This process is accompanied by a decrease in ICV. In none of the HFI groups studied there was a significant association between ICV and cranial bone thickness. The inter-relationships between the various thickness parameters are not disturbed by the degree of HFI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HFI is accompanied by an increase in thickness of all calvarial bones and reduced ICV. In addition, the thickening process initiated by HFI is synchronized among the calvarial bones. Presence of HFI suggests a decrease in brain volume and has a major clinical significance as it may indicate the beginning of degenerative processes of the brain. In addition, as females age, their skulls tend to develop more robust characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Hila
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mali
authors.forename: Gali
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dar
authors.forename: Janan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hershkovitz
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peled
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005624:Frontal Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D006957:Hyperostosis Frontalis Interna / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D012886:Skull / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed