Pineal gland cysts--an overview

Abstract

Pineal cysts occur in all ages, predominantly in adults in the fourth decade of life. In series of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, the prevalence of pineal cysts ranged between 1.3% and 4.3% of patients examined for various neurologic reasons and up to 10.8% of asymptomatic healthy volunteers. The diagnosis of pineal cyst is usually established by MRI with defined radiological criteria to distinguish benign pineal cyst from tumors of this area. A recent study demonstrated the findings obtained by transcranial sonography to correspond to those obtained by MRI in the detection of both pineal gland cyst and pineal gland itself, and could be used in the future mainly as follow up examination. Pineal cysts usually have no clinical implications and remain asymptomatic for years. The most common symptoms include headache, vertigo, visual and oculomotor disturbances, and obstructive hydrocephalus. Less frequently, patients present with ataxia, motor and sensory impairment, mental and emotional disturbances, epilepsy, circadian rhythm disturbances, hypothalamic dysfunction of precocious puberty, and recently described occurrence of secondary parkinsonism. Symptomatic cysts vary in size from 7 mm to 45 mm, whereas asymptomatic cysts are usually less than 10 mm in diameter, although a relationship between the cyst size and the onset of symptoms has been proved to be irrelevant in many cases. There is agreement that surgical intervention should be undertaken in patients presenting with hydrocephalus, progression of neurologic symptoms, or cyst enlargement. Tissue sample of the pineal lesion can be obtained by open surgery, stereotaxy and neuroendoscopy.