Gökçe E, Beyhan M. Review of imaging modalities and radiological findings of calvarial lesions. World J Radiol 2025; 17(6): 107776 [DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i6.107776]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Erkan Gökçe, Professor, Department of Radiology, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Faculty of Medicine, Kaleardı Neighborhood, Muhittin Fisunoglu Street, Tokat 60100, Türkiye. drerkangokce@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Jun 28, 2025; 17(6): 107776 Published online Jun 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i6.107776
Review of imaging modalities and radiological findings of calvarial lesions
Erkan Gökçe, Murat Beyhan
Erkan Gökçe, Murat Beyhan, Department of Radiology, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Faculty of Medicine, Tokat 60100, Türkiye
Co-corresponding authors: Erkan Gökçe and Murat Beyhan.
Author contributions: Gökçe E designed the study; Beyhan M supervised the study. Gökçe E and Beyhan M selected the case images of the article from the archive system, added figure legends, and arranged them in a format suitable for publication; Gökçe E and Beyhan M participated in literature research and manuscript preparation, and read and approved the final version; Gökçe E and Beyhan M revised the article. This collaboration between Gökçe E and Beyhan M is crucial for the publication of this manuscript and other manuscripts still in preparation.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Erkan Gökçe, Professor, Department of Radiology, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Faculty of Medicine, Kaleardı Neighborhood, Muhittin Fisunoglu Street, Tokat 60100, Türkiye. drerkangokce@gmail.com
Received: April 1, 2025 Revised: April 20, 2025 Accepted: June 7, 2025 Published online: June 28, 2025 Processing time: 90 Days and 2.4 Hours
Abstract
Calvarial lesions are usually incidental and asymptomatic, rarely detected. However, these lesions can also present with pain, a palpable mass or a bone defect. Clinical information such as the patient’s age and medical history are helpful in making the correct diagnosis. Calvarial lesions may occur due to congenital and anatomical variants, traumatic and iatrogenic, idiopathic, infectious and inflammatory, metabolic, benign and malignant neoplastic causes. Calvarial lesions may be solitary, multiple or diffuse, and may be lytic, sclerotic or mixed. Although most calvarial lesions are benign, radiologic imaging features can help to determine whether the lesion is benign or malignant. Methods that can guide treatment and are currently in use include plain radiography, ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, angiographic studies, and nuclear scintigraphy studies such as 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and whole-body bone scintigraphy. Defects, lysis and sclerosis in the bone structure are assessed by plain radiography and computed tomography, and the soft tissue components of the lesions and their relationship to the surrounding soft tissue are assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. This article reviews the imaging findings of benign and malignant calvarial lesions and normal variants that may be confused with systemic diseases and pathologies affecting the calvarium.
Core Tip: Calvarial lesions are usually incidental and asymptomatic, rarely detected, and mostly benign. In calvarial lesions, the patient's age, history of trauma or underlying systemic disease, and radiological features of the lesions [location (skull, diploic space), extent (focal, diffuse), multiplicity (solitary, multiple), attenuation (lytic, sclerotic, mixed), bone expansion, periosteal reaction, relationship to adjacent dura and diploic veins, suture crossing, transition zone, internal matrix and mineralization, and presence of soft tissue component] should be carefully evaluated. In calvarial lesions, diagnostic accuracy is increased when both computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings are evaluated in conjunction with other modalities.
