Review of imaging modalities and radiological findings of calvarial lesions

Table 1 Calvarial lesions may be solitary, multiple or diffuse, as well as lytic, sclerotic or mixed pattern

Appearances of calvarial lesions
Solitary lesions	Multiple lesions	Diffuse lesions
Metastasis1,2,3	Metastasis1,2,3	Metastasis1,2,3
Fibrous dysplasia1,2,3	Fibrous dysplasia1,2,3	Fibrous dysplasia1,2,3
Lymphoma1,2,3	Lymphoma1,2,3	Paget’s disease1,2,3
Langerhans cell histiocytosis1	Langerhans cell histiocytosis1	Bone marrow hyperplasia (e.g., thalassemia1, myeloma1)
Dermoid and epidermoid cysts1	Myeloma1	Renal osteodystrophy1
Primary bone tumors (e.g., aneurysmal bone cyst1, lipoma1)	Leukemia1	Bone turnover abnormalities (e.g., hyperparathyroidism1)
Intraosseous meningioma1,2,3
Intraosseous venous malformation1,3
Osteoma2
Osteomyelitis1
Osteosarcoma2

¹Lytic.

²Sclerotic.

³Mixed.

Table 2 Classification of all calvarial lesions

Classification of calvarial lesions
Anatomic and congenital variants	Idiopathic lesions
Arachnoid granulations	Hyperostosis frontalis interna
Venous lakes (Lacunae)	Bilateral parietal thinning
Parietal/biparietal foramina	Gorham’s disease
Lacunar skull	Parry-romberg syndrome
Dermoid cyst	Infectious and inflammatory lesions
Epidermoid cyst	Osteomyelitis
Skeletal dysplasia	Sarcoidosis
Convolutional markings and beaten copper skull	Langerhans cell histiocytosis
Tuberous sclerosis	Benign calvarial lesions
Encephalocele and atretic encephalocele	Fibrous dysplasia
Sinus pericranii	Osteoma
Aplasia cutis congenita	Primary intraosseous meningioma
External occipital protuberance	Intraosseous venous malformation
Iatrogenic and traumatic lesions	Aneurysmal bone cyst
Burr holes	Giant cell tumor
Flap osteonecrosis	Intraosseous lipoma
Congenital skull depression	Bone Desmoplastic Fibroma
Leptomeningeal cyst	Malignant calvarial lesions
Calcified cephal hematoma	Metastasis
Metabolic calvarial lesions	Multiple myeloma and plasmacytoma
Paget’s disease	Lymphoma
Chronic anemia	Leukemia
Hyperparathyroidism	Osteosarcoma
Renal osteodystrophy	Neuroblastoma
Acromegaly	Solitary fibrous tumor
Rickets and osteomalacia	Chordoma
Phenytoin-induced hyperostosis	Chondrosarcoma
Scurvy	Ewing’s sarcoma
	Rhabdomyosarcoma