Table 4.
Lists three most commonly reported intracranial incidental findings on brain magnetic resonance in various pediatric-settings[5-19]
| Ref. | Three most common intracranial IFs, n (%) | Comment or serious finding |
| Yilmaz et al[5] | White-matter hyperintensity 14 (4.3) Old infarcts 4 (1.2), and CM I 3 (0.9) | 2 (0.6%) malignant tumor and 1 hydrocephalus, 0.3% IFs were relevant to headache |
| Bayram et al[6] | Supratentorial non-specific WMC 23 (4.4) | All patients with IFs had normal development and no seizures or head trauma |
| Graf et al[7] | CM I 6 (15), arachnid cysts 6 (15), brain stem parenchymal abnormality, 4 (10) | Brain stem IFs included Dandy-Walker variant, cerebellar calcification, and tectal plate hyperintensity |
| Schwedt et al[8] | CM I 11 (4.6), nonspecific white matter abnormalities 7 (2.9), venous angiomas and arachnoid cyst each 5 (2.5) | Discovery of 4 tumors, 4 old infarcts, 3 CM I, and 2 moyamoya required a change in management |
| Koirala[9] | Hippocampal sclerosis, T2 hyperintense foci in various distributions, both 4 (21) each, cortical atrophy 3 (16) | Study focus was IFs in patient with seizure. The lesions were better detected by MRI than computerized tomography |
| Kalnin et al[10] | Ventricular enlargement 143 (51), leukomalacia/gliosis 64 (23), heterotopias and cortical dysplasia 33 (12) | Temporal lobe lesions were detected 15%, a higher frequency than in previous studies |
| Gupta et al[11] | Variant signal intensity 30 (18), WMC changes 23 (13), and PVL, 10 (6) | IFs were reported in children with developmental delay as to those with normal development status |
| Seki et al[12] | Cavum septi pellucid 6 (15) and Pineal cyst 2 (5 ), Enlarged perivascular spaces 1 (2.5) | Focus of the study was reporting of extracranial IFs in healthy children |
| Gupta et al[13] | CM I and cerebellar ectopia, 16 (3.5), Arachnoid cysts, 12 (1.8) | White matter changes were the most common IFs classified under normal-variants |
| Potchen et al[14] | PVW matter changes/gliosis 6 (6), mild diffuse atrophy 4 (4), and Empty sella 3 (3) | Incidental findings were unassociated with age, sex, antenatal problems, or febrile seizures |
| Kim et al[15] | Focal white matter lesion 3 (1.3), arachnoid cyst, frontal venous angioma, and mega cisterna magna, all three 2 (0.9) each | IFs were detected on 225 conventional research in a cohort of neurologically healthy children |
| IFs in pediatric specialty clinics other than neurology | ||
| Oh et al[16] | Low signal intensities on T1-WI and high signal intensities on T2-WI 26 (73) | Incidence of hypointensity on T1-WI was higher in patients with Rathke’s cleft cysts |
| Rachmiel et al[17] | Prominent VR perivascular spaces, cerebellar ectopia, and abnormalities in sella region all 3 (7.9) each | The comparative study found no IFs association with clinical and cognitive abnormalities |
| Mogensen et al[19] | Arachnoid cysts 5 (9.2), of which one patient had hydrocephalus | Incidental findings were unrelated to early puberty |
The study by Whitehead et al[18], 2013, which is not listed in table, because this study was limited to prevalence of pineal cysts in children, who have undergone high-resolution 3-T MRI. CM I: Chiari malformation I; WMC: White matter changes; VR: Virchow-Robin; PVL: Periventricular malacia; PVW: Periventricular white matter changes; IFs: Incidental findings; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging.