Introduction

Interthalamic adhesion suffers a volumetric reduction with advancing age in dogs.

Objectives

Studies about the thickness of the interthalamic adhesion of cats are not available in the literature to date, so this study sought to determine the thickness of the interthalamic adhesion of adult and mature cats.

Methods

Seven nonbrachycephalic adults (aged 1–6 years) and mature (aged 7–12 years) female cats, with no history of neurological signs, underwent an MRI of the brain. The thickness of the interthalamic adhesion was measured in T1-weighted and T2-weighted transverse images, and a mean of the thickness measured in both MRI sequences was obtained for each animal. The images used for measurement of thickness contained the third ventricle dorsal and ventral to the interthalamic adhesion.

Results

The mean age of the adult animals was 2.86 ± 1.57 years, while the average age of the mature cats was 8.29 ± 1.11 years. The mean weight of the adult and mature individuals were 3.67 ± 0.60 kg and 3.98 kg ± 2.29, respectively. The average value obtained for the thickness of the interthalamic adhesion was 4.48 ± 0.47 mm in the adult group and 4.23 ± 0.76 mm in the mature group. The greater average thickness of the interthalamic adhesion in the adult cats indicates the occurrence of a reduction in the thickness of this structure with advancing age.

Conclusions

The results of this study suggest that a volumetric reduction of the interthalamic adhesion occurs with age in cats.