Basal ganglia calcification on computed tomography: clinical characteristics in 25 patients

Twenty-five patients presenting basal ganglia calcification were assessed. This finding comprised 0.68% of all skull CT scan carried out during the period. Two patients were neurologically asymptomatic and 23 presented a variety neurological disorders - headache (7 patients), stroke (5 patients), extrapyramidal syndromes (2 patients), tumor (2 patients), epilepsy (11 patient), mental retardation (11 patient), dementia (11 patient), cranial trauma (11 patient), other neurological conditions (3 patients) - or were asymptomatic from the neurological point of view (2 patients). Findings in the CT scan other than the basal ganglia calcification were observed in 15 (60%) patients. There was a clinical-CT scan correlation in these cases but not in those in which the basal ganglia calcification was an isolated finding. This study highlights the fact that basal ganglia calcification is often a nonspecific finding on CT scan and that it may not be possible to establish a clinical-pathological correlation between them.