January - March 2005, Volume 1, Issue 1

Guja C, Dumitrascu A, Boscaiu V, Baciu A, Debretin M, Pavel A

Choroid plexus - pineal gland correlations. Medical anthropology - computed tomography studies. Intracranial physiological calcification

Acta Endo (Buc) 2005, 1 (1): 1-18
doi: 10.4183/aeb.2005.1

OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out on 1290 patients, whose choroids plexus and pineal gland were examined on computed tomography. Aim: To check the correspondence between the choroid plexuses and the pineal gland calcifications along age groups and sex; and the connections between these calcifications and associated pathology.\r\nMATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group consisted of patients of both sexes, within six age intervals.\r\nRESULTS: In order to classify the calcification variants, eight types of combinations were ordered and can be seen in CT: two refer to extreme variants: totally uncalcified (type 1) and totally calcified (type 8); bilateral, symmetrical variants (types 4 and 5); the other four types include the asymmetrical calcifications (2, 3, 6 and 7). After the anthropological study the results demonstrate that there are significant differences between calcification of the choroids plexus and those of the pineal gland with the two sexes, on age groups and pathological ground. For type 1-totally uncalcified the maximum frequency is around 70% with ages under 19. For type 8 - totally calcified, bilateral, the maximum frequency is around 50% with age groups 48-59 and 60-71. For type 4 - calcification only of choroid plexus, one finds a continuous increase from about 10% at the first age group to about 25% at the last group, while for type 5- calcification only of the pineal gland the frequency is 10%−20%. We started from the hypothesis that the presence of these calcifications is physiological, and has an active adaptative metabolic part depending on many factors, among which the individual constitutional ground is also present.\r\nCONCLUSIONS: The age is not the main cause of the calcification types, but a process of adaptative-reactive variability of interface type, playing an integrating mediating part.

Keywords: physiological calcification, choroid plexus, pineal gland, anthropological typology.

Correspondence: Anda Dumitrascu, MD, PhD, ?C.I. Parhon? Institute of Endocrinology, Bd. Aviatorilor 34-36, sector 1, Bucharest, fax:+4021.3143313, email: anda.dumitrascu@hudson.ro

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