Evaluation of pineal cysts with magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

AIMTo evaluate radiological imaging findings of patients who had been found to have pineal cyst (PC) in brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).METHODSA total of 9546 patients who had brain MRI examination in March 2010-January 2018 period were studied. Fifty-six patients (44 female and 12 male) found to have PC were evaluated. Eighteen of the patients had had follow-up examinations of 2-94 mo (mean 30.50 ± 28.83). PC dimensions and volume, radiological imaging features (signal intensities, contours, internal septation-loculation and contrast-enhancement features) and natural history in cases who had been followed-up were evaluated by two radiologists.RESULTSOf 9546 patients, 5555 were female (58.2%) and 3991 male (41.8%). Age range was 1-99 (mean 43.18 ± 20.94). PC frequency was calculated to be 0.58%. Forty-four of the 56 patients (78.57%) with PC were female and 12 male (21.43%), and their age range was 5-61 (mean 31.26 ± 12.73). Thirty-five of the PCs were typical (62.50%) and 21 (37.50%) were atypical. No significant difference was found between initial and final imaging sizes of PCs which were monitored by follow-up examinations (P > 0.05).CONCLUSIONPCs are cysts which do not show clear size and natural changes and are more frequently observed in females and in adult ages. Most of them are isointense with cerebrospinal fluid on T1 and T2A weighted images, hyperintense compared to cerebrospinal fluid on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery; sequence and smoothly contoured. Their typical forms have peripheral rim and multilocular ones may have septal contrast-enhancement.

The microsurgical management of benign pineal cysts: Helsinki experience in 60 cases

“…However, it may be challenging to determine a precise radiological differentiation between the pineal cyst and cystic pineocytomas, gliomas or even pineoblastomas. [21,13]…”

“…As concluded by some authors, despite the advances in high-resolution MRI, there are not definite radiological methods to distinguish benign pineal cysts from pineal region malignancies containing cystic components such as pineocytomas, pineoblastomas, germinomas, or mature teratomas. [21,38]…”

Systematic review of pineal cysts surgery in pediatric patients

“…The prevalence of benign pineal cysts (PCs) ranges between 0.6 and 23% in the general population [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], and is as high as 40% in autoptic series [8]. This large range in reported prevalence is explained by the different types of MRI machine used for the respective studies, the different methods used in defining PC size, and the various types of design and population studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]9]. One large study on children and young people in particular showed a PC prevalence of 2% in people under 25 years of age [2].…”

Brain Magnetic Resonance Findings in 117 Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder under 5 Years Old

“…Pineal cysts were considered typical when unilocular, smooth edged, with homogeneous interior content in every MRI sequence and with a diameter of at least 6 mm [ 34 ].…”