[Calcification in gliomas: first report with special reference to roentgenological calcification (author's transl)]

The mechanism and the clinical significance of calcium deposits in glioma have been still obscure. Excluding pinealomas, 221 histologically proven intracranial gliomas were studied. The presence of roentgenological calcification in 27 of the authers' series represented an incidence of 12 percent. The incidence of roentgenological calcification in various types of glioma were as follows: astrocytoma grades 1 & 2-15%, astrocytoma grades 3 & 4-7%, medulloblastoma-5%, ependymoma-17%, oligodendrogioma-60%, and choroid plexus papilloma-25%. There was no characteristic relationship between the incidence of calcification and the age distribution. One exception was noted that in astrocytoma grades 1 & 2 the incidence of roentgenological calcification tended to be higher in younger patients than in older patients. The percentage of calcified tumors in both sexes was the same. In astrocytoma and ependymoma the incidence of roentgenological calcification was far greater in the supratentorial tumor than in the infratentorial tumor. According to their roentgenological appearance, calcified tumors were separated into four groups, but any specific appearance could not be claimed for any particular type of glial tumors. Only in astrocytoma both the duration of symptoms and the postoperative survival time of the calcified cases were longer than those of the uncalcified. But in other types of glioma there were no significant differences in the postoperative survival time between the calcified cases and the uncalcified ones. In 5 cases of astrocytomas the calcium deposits did not exist on preoperative radiographs, which were found postoperatively after chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. In conclusion, it is not the histological type but the duration of the clinical course that plays more important role in calcification of gliomas.