Laith Thamer Al-Ameri; Eman Alaa Al-Zuhairi & Heidi Mohammed Al-Shirwani

Pineal gland calcification is the most common physiological intracranial calcification followed by the choroid plexus calcification. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of the pineal gland and choroid plexus calcification among the Iraqi population attending computed tomography scan units in Baghdad, estimate the mean diameters of the pineal gland calcification, and to detect any correlation between these calcifications with age and sex. This multi-centric cross-sectional study examined 485 CT scans of Iraqi patients between the ages of 1 and 100 years attending CT scan units in the period 1 December 2018 to 1 April 2019. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The prevalence of pineal gland calcification was found to be 68 % with the 30-39 age group and male sex predominance. It was found to increase after the first decade of life without real consistency. The mean for pineal gland calcification anterior-posterior diameter was 4.55±2.13 and the mean of the right-left diameter was 3.95±1.54. These diameters were found to differ according to sex and age. Choroid plexus calcification was found to have a prevalence of 53.6 %. In most cases, choroid plexus calcification was found bilaterally (77.3 %). There was no difference in sex, but choroid plexus. In conclusion, calcification was noticed to increase gradually according to age. Both pineal gland and choroid plexus calcification have a relatively high prevalence. While pineal gland calcification formation was demonstrated to have a close relation to age and sex, choroid plexus calcification formation was noticed to relate only to age.

KEY WORDS: Pineal gland; Choroid plexus; Intracranial calcification.

AL-AMERI, L. T.; AL-ZUHAIRI, E. A. & AL-SHIRWANI, H. M. Prevalence of pineal gland and choroid plexus calcification among Iraqi patients attending CT scan units. Int. J. Morphol., 39(1):244-251, 2021.