[Computer tomography appearances of intracranial epidermoid and dermoid cysts as demonstrated by three cases (author's transl)].

The authors describe the computer tomography appearances of intracranial epidermoid and dermoid cysts as demonstrated by three cases, and review the published literature. Dermoid and epidermoid cysts can be distinguished from each other by their topography (dermoid cysts are found more medially while epidermoid cysts occur on the base of the skull and in the pontocerebellar angle), by the presence or not of calcification (found almost exclusively in dermoid cysts), and by their computer tomography appearances. Both tumors have low densities, below that of the cerebrospinal fluid, but dermoid cysts have lower densities than epidermoid cysts, which can be easily explained by referring to the anatomo-pathological appearance.