Morphometric Parameters of the Human Pineal Gland by 3D (Spiral) CT scan

The pineal gland is very important human endocrine gland and its location and size is very important for the neurologist and neurosurgeons and for the radiologist because in certain radiological investigations it is the guide of midline and its right or left shifting is highly suggestive of space occupying lesion in the brain. The aim of study was to find out the morphometric parameters of pineal gland and their variations in the different age groups. For this 100 cases were scaned by 3D CT Scan out of which 73 are males & 27 are females from mp region. All the measurements were taken in sagittal, coronal and axial view by CT scan & measurement done directly on computer on DICOM images using the DICOM viewer software. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL)& using statistical tools like mean, SD, t-test, diagrams, one way ANOVA analysis of variance for comparing different parameters. There was significant difference found in length (p<0.01) between different age groups. In males significant difference was found in the width between 41-50 and >50 age groups (p<0.05). In females significant difference was found for the parameter length with respect to age groups (p<0.01). We concluded that to study the morphometric parameters of pineal gland by 3D CT Scan and their variations may help in certain radiological investigations & to distinguish healthy tissue from various pineal tumors.