Malnutrition and Size of the Cerebral Ventricles1

Summary Examination of the size of the cerebral ventricles by means of echoencephalography in Ethiopian infants and young children with severe malnutrition showed a moderate but significant increase in children with kwashiorkor, examined up to 3–4 weeks after admission, whereas children with marasmus showed no deviation from the normal. Further studies will show whether or not this abnormality in the kwashiorkor children is a transient phenomenon. The observation gives one more reason for caution in using head circumference as a measure of brain size.