Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus IV: Organ Systems: Endocrine System
Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed
The pineal body is variable in size and is calcified in 40% of subjects over 20 years of age, but rarely in individuals under this age. Because calcium is visible on x-ray it is a significant and useful aid in diagnosis of space-occupying lesions within the skull. Choroid plexus and habenular calcification have also been useful in diagnosis of lesions of the nervous system. Calcified choroid plexus has a reported incidence of 6.1-28% in all persons over 20 years of age.
Pineal calcification occurs in 33 - 76% of the white population. In 230 pineal bodies studied from the black population (Ugandans), calcification in subjects at least 10 years old, was present in 68% and radiographically demonstrable in 43 of the 68% (Mugandi and Poltera (1976) cited by Lang, (1983).
References
Dyke, C.G. (1930) Indirect signs of brain tumor as noted in routine roentgen examinations. Displacement of the pineal shadow. (A survey of 3000 consecutive skull examinations). Am. J. Roentgenol. 23:598-606.
Fray, W.W. (1937) Roentgenologic study of orientation of the pineal body. Arch. Neurol. Psychiatry 38:1199-1207.
Fray, W.W. (1938) A roentgenological study of pineal orientation. Am. J. Roentgenol. 39:899-907.
Lang, J. (1983) Clinical Anatomy of the Head. Neurocranium, Orbit. Craniocervical Regions. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York.
Lilja, B. (1939) Displacement of the calcified pineal body in roentgen pictures as an aid in diagnosing intracranial tumors. Acta Radiol. [Suppl.] 37:1-182.
Lorenz, R. (1940) Zur lagebestimmung der verkalkten Glandula pinealis im Röntgenbild. Fortschritte Röntgenstr. 61:338-348.
Malbin, M. (1948) Mobile calcified choroid plexus. Radiology 51:383-386.
Stauffer, H.M., Snow, L.E. and A.B. Adams. (1953) Roentgenologic recognition of habenular calcification as distinct from calcification in the pineal body. Its application in cerebral localization. Am. J. Roentgenol. 70:83-92.
Vastine, J.H. and K.K. Kinney. (1927) The pineal shadow as an aid in localization of brain tumors. Am. J. Roentgenology 17:320-324.
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