The Pineal Region: Thin Sectional Anatomy with MR Correlation in the Coronal Plane
PURPOSE: To explore the anatomic features and adjacent relationships of the pineal region in thin coronal sections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After CT and MR examination verifying no brain lesions, one normal cadaver bead was selected for this study from three Chinese adult male cadavers. After embedded and frozen, the head was sliced into 0.1mm serial sections in the coronal plane with the SKC 500 computerized freezing milling machine. Then the pictures of the serial coronal sections were taken by a high resolution digital camera and saved in the computer. Subsequently, the anatomic structures of the pineal region on the thin coronal sections were investigated and correlated with in vivo MR images, which were obtained from ten normal Chinese male adult volunteers by a 3.0 T GE scanner. The base lines of the sectioning and the MR scan were all perpendicular to the AC-PC line. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty five coronal sections and 21-23 in vivo coronal MR images related with the pineal region were obtained respectively. From anterior to posterior, the shape of the pineal region changed from an inverted triangle to a trapezoid and a triangle gradually, and the anatomic details could be depicted clearly in the thin sectional anatomy images in sub-millimeter. Via the comparison, some micro-anatomic structures of the pineal region that cannot be discriminated clearly or missed in the thick sections or MR images were identified. CONCLUSION: The contrast of the computerized freezing milling technique with the MRI enhanced our ability to comprehend the complex anatomy of the pineal region and to improve the imaging diagnosis and surgical treatments of minute diseases in this region.
Pineal region Thin sectional anatomy Computerized freezing milling technique MRI
Bo Sun Yuchun Tang Lingzhong Fan Xiangtao Lin Hengtao Qi Zhenping Li Shuwei Liu
Research Center of Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Medical School of Shandong University, Jinan 25001 Research Center of Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Medical School of Shandong University, Jinan 25001 Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan 250021, Shandong, China
国际会议
首届国际断层影像解剖学研讨会(The 1st International Symposium on Sectional and Inaging Anatomy)
青岛
英文
73-80
2007-12-15(万方平台首次上网日期,不代表论文的发表时间)