Incidence of normal pineal and chroids plexus calcification on brain CT (computerized tomography) at Tikur Anbessa Teaching Hospital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the incidence of normal calcification of pineal gland and choroids plexus on Brain -CT (computerized Tomography) and to see its association with age and sex.

METHOD

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Radiology Department, Tikur Anbessa Teaching Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from May 2001 to August 2002. A total of 518 patients; 312 males and 206 females underwent brain-CT without pineal or choroids plexus pathology.

RESULTS

The over all incidence of normal pineal gland calcification was 72.0 % and that of choroid plexus 43.3 %. The incidence of normal pineal gland and choroids plexus calcification were higher in males than in females by 13.1% and 6.0% respectively. The frequency of pineal gland and choroids plexus calcification showed a steady increase with age on both sex groups.

CONCLUSION

The incidence of normal pineal gland calcification in this study is similar to most of the findings of other studies while the incidence of choroids plexus calcification was lower as compared the finding of other studies.