Ahmet Turan Urhan; Berna Dogan; Hilal Irmak Sapmaz; Sirin Aslan Baran; Fatma Kokcu & Mustafa Furkan Ozturk

It is thought that Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), which primarily affects the axial skeleton, may cause structural and functional effects in the brain through chronic inflammation and neuroendocrine mechanisms. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential effects of AS on the pineal gland (gl) cerebrum, and intracranial volume using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, images from 25 patients with AS and 25 healthy individuals of similar age and sex were retrospectively evaluated. The pineal gland volume was examined using manual segmentation with the 3D Slicer software (version 4.10.2) on high-resolution T1-weighted MRI, while cerebral and intracranial volumes were examined using the VolBrain automatic segmentation method. The T-test was used for statistical analysis. No statistically significant differences were found between the AS group and the control group in terms of pineal gland, cerebrum, and intracranial volume (p > 0.05). Similarly, no significant differences were found in the pineal gland/cerebrum and pineal gland/intracranial volume ratios (p > 0.05). Although neuroinflammatory and neuroendocrine mechanisms are thought to play a role in the pathophysiology of AS, our findings indicate that these processes do not lead to significant structural differences in brain volume. However, advanced studies with larger sample groups that also analyze melatonin levels biochemically will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of this relationship.

KEY WORDS: Ankylosing spondylitis; Pineal gland; Cerebrum; VolBrain.

URHAN, A. T.; DOGAN , B.; IRMAK SAPMAZ, H.; ASLAN BARAN, S.; KOKCU, F. & OZTURK, M. F. Does ankylosing spondylitis affect the volume of the pineal gland? Int. J. Morphol., 44(3):1008-1013, 2026.