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Updated: May 20, 2026
Three-Dimensional Cephalometric Landmark Annotation Demonstration on Human Cone Beam Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: September 8, 2023
Intracranial physiological calcifications evaluated with cone beam CT
P P Sedghizadeh1, M Nguyen, R Enciso
1USC Center for Biofilms, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, University of Southern California, 925 West 34 Street #4110, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. sedghiza@usc.edu
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate cone beam CT (CBCT) scans for the presence of physiological and pathological intracranial calcifications.
Methods:
CBCT scans from male and female patients that met our ascertainment criteria were evaluated retrospectively (n=500) for the presence of either physiological or pathological intracranial calcifications.
Results:
Out of the 500 patients evaluated, 176 had evidence of intracranial physiological calcification (35.2% prevalence), and none had evidence of pathological calcification. There was a 3:2 male-to-female ratio and no ethnic predilection; the ages of affected patients ranged from 13 years to 82 years with a mean age of 52 years. The majority of calcifications appeared in the pineal/habenular region (80%), with some also appearing in the choroid plexus region bilaterally (12%), and a smaller subset appearing in the petroclinoid ligament region bilaterally (8%).
Conclusions:
Intracranial physiological calcifications can be a common finding on CBCT scans, whereas pathological intracranial calcifications are rare.
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