This study aims to determine size of corpus callosum on midsagittal MR scan in patients with a pineal cyst and to compare it with the control group without a pineal cyst.

A pineal cyst (PC) is a benign affection of the pineal gland, its prevalence in population reaches 1-2 %. Etiopathogenesis of PC is unknown, several hypotheses have been proposed. One of the hypothesis consider perinatal hypoxia as a causative factor for a development of PC in later life. Ozmen et al. showed significantly higher prevalence of PC in patients with cerebral palsy (p<0.001). Bregant et al. studied presence of PC in patients that suffered from a mild to moderate perinatal hypoxia. Prevalence of PC reached 36 % in these patients and presence of PC was associated with a atrophy of the corpus callosum (p<0.005). The atrophy of the corpus callosum is considered to be a sign of a periventricular leukomalacia, i.e. an ischemic insult in a perinatal period.

In the present study, we are going to compare an area of corpus callosum on a midsagittal magnetic resonance T2-weighted scan in the group of patients with PC and in the control group without PC. The goal of the study is to determine if there is a relationship between atrophy of the corpus callosum and PC. Such finding would support abovementioned theory of etiopathogenesis of PC.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 3T MR examination of the brain including T2 sagittal scans

Exclusion Criteria:

• other intracranial pathology discovered on the MR
• other known neurological disease (e.g. multiple sclerosis, stroke, tumor, etc.)

• study group: consecutive patients with pineal cyst that were examined in our institution between 2000-2017
• control group: matched healthy subjects without pineal cyst