Age-related changes in the incidence of pineal gland calcification in Turkey: A prospective multicenter CT study

Turgut, Ahmet Tuncay; Karakaş, Hakkı Muammer; Özsunar, Yelda; Altin, Levent; Çeken, Kağan; Alıcıoğlu, Banu; Sönmez, İclal; Alparslan, Ahmet Şükrü; Yürümez, Belde; Çelik, Tayfun; Kazak, Eda; Geyik, Pınar Özdemir; Koşar, Uğur

doi:10.1016/j.pathophys.2008.02.001

Cited by 45 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In all population groups, calcification of the pineal gland was found to increase with age. The findings of the present study regarding the approximate incidence of PGC and its higher prevalence in older age are consistent with the literature [14, 16]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Generally, calcifications of the pineal gland are one of the most common forms of intracranial calcifications with former studies based on computed tomography reporting a prevalence between 68.5% and 75.1% [15, 16, 37]. In all population groups, calcification of the pineal gland was found to increase with age.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…PGC, also referred to as “brain sand”, involves the development of hydroxyapatite deposits and is very common with a reported prevalence of approximately 68–75% in adults [14–16]. It is frequently detected on computed tomography (CT) scans.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diagnostic accuracy of susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of pineal gland calcification

et al. 2017

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ObjectivesTo determine the diagnostic performance of susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (SWMR) for the detection of pineal gland calcifications (PGC) compared to conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences, using computed tomography (CT) as a reference standard.Methods384 patients who received a 1.5 Tesla MRI scan including SWMR sequences and a CT scan of the brain between January 2014 and October 2016 were retrospectively evaluated. 346 patients were included in the analysis, of which 214 showed PGC on CT scans. To assess correlation between imaging modalities, the maximum calcification diameter was used. Sensitivity and specificity and intra- and interobserver reliability were calculated for SWMR and conventional MRI sequences.ResultsSWMR reached a sensitivity of 95% (95% CI: 91%-97%) and a specificity of 96% (95% CI: 91%-99%) for the detection of PGC, whereas conventional MRI achieved a sensitivity of 43% (95% CI: 36%-50%) and a specificity of 96% (95% CI: 91%-99%). Detection rates for calcifications in SWMR and conventional MRI differed significantly (95% versus 43%, p<0.001). Diameter measurements between SWMR and CT showed a close correlation (R2 = 0.85, p<0.001) with a slight but not significant overestimation of size (SWMR: 6.5 mm ± 2.5; CT: 5.9 mm ± 2.4, p = 0.02). Interobserver-agreement for diameter measurements was excellent on SWMR (ICC = 0.984, p < 0.0001).ConclusionsCombining SWMR magnitude and phase information enables the accurate detection of PGC and offers a better diagnostic performance than conventional MRI with CT as a reference standard.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Diagnostic accuracy of susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of pineal gland calcification

et al. 2017

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“…Pineal acervuli (concretions, corpora arenacea or brain sand), known as a normal physiologic phenomenon in pineal gland (PG)1234, have long been studied because of their association with aging5678, melatonin production91011 or neurological disorders1213141516. The relevance of acervuli to aging is still arguable; in general views the incidence and amount of acervuli are believed to increase with age581718 despite several irrelevant cases671920.…”

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confidence: 99%

Growth patterns for acervuli in human pineal gland

Kim

Chang

et al. 2012

Sci Rep

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Acervuli are calcified concretions in the pineal gland (PG). Particularly interesting are their incidence and size, which are believed to affect neurological disorders and many physiological functions of PG such as regulating circadian rhythm. Despite long investigations for a century, detailed growth mechanism of acervuli has yet to be studied. Here we study the growth morphology of acervuli in human PGs by a direct visualization in 3-dimension (3-D) using a synchrotron X-ray imaging method. For an entire PG, non-aggregated acervuli show Gaussian distribution in size with 47±28 µm. The 3-D volume rendered images of acervuli reveal that the bumpy surfaces developed by lamination result in the mulberry-like structure. In addition, coalescence of multiple acervuli leads to large-scale lamination on the whole aggregate. We suggest a novel hypothesis on the growth patterns of acervuli by their nucleation density (Nd): i) mulberry-like structure at low Nd, and ii) large-scale lamination on an aggregate at high Nd.

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“…Recently, radiological studies of the pineal gland have been mainly conducted by computed tomography (CT) on pineal calcification over different populations of healthy subjects [19, 20]. There have been a few studies about pineal volume estimation using different methods such as elliptic approaches and ROI on MRI [21–23], but, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no study using stereological methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Three Methods for the Estimation of Pineal Gland Volume Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Acer

Ilıca

Turgut

et al. 2012

The Scientific World Journal

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Pineal gland is a very important neuroendocrine organ with many physiological functions such as regulating circadian rhythm. Radiologically, the pineal gland volume is clinically important because it is usually difficult to distinguish small pineal tumors via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although many studies have estimated the pineal gland volume using different techniques, to the best of our knowledge, there has so far been no stereological work done on this subject. The objective of the current paper was to determine the pineal gland volume using stereological methods and by the region of interest (ROI) on MRI. In this paper, the pineal gland volumes were calculated in a total of 62 subjects (36 females, 26 males) who were free of any pineal lesions or tumors. The mean ± SD pineal gland volumes of the point-counting, planimetry, and ROI groups were 99.55 ± 51.34, 102.69 ± 40.39, and 104.33 ± 40.45 mm3, respectively. No significant difference was found among the methods of calculating pineal gland volume (P > 0.05). From these results, it can be concluded that each technique is an unbiased, efficient, and reliable method, ideally suitable for in vivo examination of MRI data for pineal gland volume estimation.

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Age-related changes in the incidence of pineal gland calcification in Turkey: A prospective multicenter CT study

Cited by 45 publications

References 31 publications

Diagnostic accuracy of susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of pineal gland calcification

Diagnostic accuracy of susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of pineal gland calcification

Growth patterns for acervuli in human pineal gland

Comparison of Three Methods for the Estimation of Pineal Gland Volume Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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