The clinical and radiological features of cisternal and pericallosal lipomas

Purpose: To demonstrate the clinical and radiological features of pericallosal and cisternal lipomas and to compare these two groups in terms of radiological and clinical features. Methods: This retrospective study included 23 patients diagnosed with pericallosal and cisternal lipoma between 2010 and 2017. The patients comprised 12 females and 11 males with a mean age of 38.8 years (range 12–69 years). Magnetic resonance imaging was applied to all the patients. Computed tomography (CT) was also performed in 10 patients. Results: 9 lesions were pericallosal and 14 were cisternal (7 were right quadrigeminal cistern, 3 were left quadrigeminal cistern, 1 was interpeduncular cistern, 1 was left cerebellopontine cistern, 1 was right cerebellopontine cistern, and 1 was supracerebellar cistern). The mean size of the lesions was 18.7 ± 10 mm. The shape of the lesions was curvilinear in 10 patients (43.5%) and tubulonodular in 13 patients (56.5%). The mean CT density of the lesions was − 87.7 ± 25.6 HU. The size of pericallosal lipomas (mean 27.5 mm) was statistically significantly larger than that of cisternal lipomas (mean 13.1 mm) (p = 0.001). No statistically significant difference was determined between the two groups in terms of lesion shape (p = 0.478), gender (p = 0.707), age (p = 0.639), and symptoms (p = 0.084). Conclusions: In this study, the incidence of pericallosal lipomas was 0.011% and the incidence of cisternal lipomas was 0.017%. Although rare, the knowledge of the clinical and radiological features of pericallosal and cisternal lipomas will play an important role in the accurate diagnosis and follow-up of the patient. © 2019, Belgian Neurological Society.