Disease of the pineal gland

Diseases of the pineal gland include cysts, calcifications and tumors.

Cysts
Cysts of the pineal gland are mostly asymptomatic. However, larger cysts can compress surrounding structures. They occur most often in young women.

Calcification
Calcified formations - the so-called brain sand (corpora arenacea) commonly occur with increasing age. These are protein formations in which calcium salts are stored.

Tumors
Pineal tumors (pinealomas) are rare. Most (50-70%) originate from isolated embryonic germ cells. Tumors that are from cells of the parenchyma of the pineal gland - pinealocytes, are called pineocytoma and pineoblastoma. Pineocytoma (pinealocytoma) is a slow-growing benign tumor. Pineoblastoma is a fast-growing high-grade tumor.

Germ cell tumors
They most often take the form of a germinoma, resembling a testicular seminoma or an ovarian dysgerminoma. Other types according to germ cell differentiation are embryonal carcinoma, choriocarcinoma and, rarely, teratomas.

Tumors of the pineal parenchyma
These lesions originate from specialized cells of the pineal gland (pinealocytes) that have features of neuronal differentiation. Pineocytomas are highly differentiated lesions with areas of neuropil, cells with a small round nucleus and no evidence of mitosis or necrosis. Pineoblastoma is a high-grade variant with little sign of neuronal differentiation, densely packed small cells with necrosis and a number of mitoses. High-grade tumors of the pineal gland occur in children, while low-grade lesions more often affect adults. Highly aggressive pineoblastoma often spreads through the cerebrospinal fluid.

Related Articles

 * Pineal gland
 * Germline tumors
 * Calcification (pathology)

References [ edit | edit source ]

 * KUMAR, [edited by] Vinay, Vinay KUMAR and Jon C. Aster ; with illustrations by James A. Perkins. Robbins and Cotran pathological basis of disease : [object Object]. 9th edition. Philadelphia : Elsevier Saunders, c2015.  ISBN 9781455726134.


 * WHITEHEAD, MT, C OH and A RAJU, et al. Physiologic pineal region, choroid plexus, and dural calcifications in the first decade of life. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol [online] . 2015, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 575-80, also available from < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25355815 >. ISSN 0195-6108 (print), 1936-959X.