- Pineal gland cyst
A pineal gland cyst is a
cyst in thepineal gland , a small endocrine gland in thebrain .. Statisically, these fluid-filled bodies appear on 1-4% ofmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans. They are more frequent at death, seen in 21-41% of autopsies, though researchers are not sure why. They are in most cases asymptomatic, and it is rare for a pineal cyst to cause symptoms. If they do, these would most likely be headache, visual disturbances, orhydrocephalus , which can be extremely dangerous if left untreated. Pineal cysts are not cancer and most of the time they do not enlarge over 2 centimeters.Asymptomatic cysts require no treatment. Some doctors choose to monitor patients with
CT scan s or MRI to look for cyst growth, but most doctors do notfact|date=June 2007)).The above information was found in a journal article, "High Prevalence of Pineal Cysts in Healthy Adults Demonstrated by High-Resolution, Noncontrast Brain MR Imaging" by Y. Pua, S. Mahankalia, J. Houa, J. Lia, J.L. Lancastera, J.-H. Gaoa, D.E. Appelbaumb and P.T. Fox.
Published ahead of print on September 20, 2007doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A0656
American Journal of Neuroradiology 28:1706-1709, October 2007© 2007 American Society of Neuroradiology
Weblink: http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/full/28/9/1706
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