N. De Tribolet

Management of Pineal Region Tumors

Pineal region tumors include a variety of neoplasms of different histological origin growing from the pineal gland itself or from structures of the parapineal space. These tumors are rare and account for 0.4 to 1.0% of intracranial tumors in adults and 3.0–8% in children. The most common types are germ cell tumors, pineal parenchymal cell tumors and glial cell tumor. Other pineal region tumors such as meningiomas, PNET, neurocytomas, hemangioblastomas, cavernomas and metastasis are infrequent.