Histology and computed tomography of incidental calcifications in the human basal ganglia
Publication date
2021-07
Authors
de Brouwer, Esther J M
de Jong, Pim A
De Jonghe, Annemarieke
Emmelot-Vonk, Mariëlle H
Koek, Huiberdina L
Dankbaar, Jan Willem
Hoesein, Firdaus A. A. Mohamed
Van Hecke, Wim
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Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Article
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Abstract
Incidental basal ganglia calcifications are a common finding on computed tomography (CT). We investigated the histological characteristics of these calcifications and their association with CT findings, using post-mortem basal ganglia tissue from 22 patients. Eight patients had basal ganglia calcifications on histology, and six patients had calcifications on CT, varying from mild to severe. Four patients had calcifications identified by both histology and CT, and two patients had calcifications detected by CT but not by histology, possibly because of insufficient tissue available. Calcifications were found mainly in the tunica media of arterioles located in the globus pallidus, which suggests that incidental CT calcifications are vascular in nature. However, tunica media calcifications, and thereby incidental basal ganglia calcifications, are probably not related to atherosclerosis.
Keywords
Basal ganglia, Calcification, CT scan, Pathology, Globus Pallidus, Basal Ganglia Diseases/diagnostic imaging, Calcinosis/diagnostic imaging, Humans, Tomography, X-Ray Computed, Basal Ganglia/diagnostic imaging, Clinical Neurology, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Journal Article
Citation
de Brouwer, E J M, de Jong, P A, De Jonghe, A, Emmelot-Vonk, M H, Koek, H L, Dankbaar, J W, Mohamed Hoesein, F A A & Van Hecke, W 2021, 'Histology and computed tomography of incidental calcifications in the human basal ganglia', Neuroradiology, vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 1145-1148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-021-02680-4