We present two patients with unilateral occipital gyriform calcificati
on and seizures, Gyriform or serpentine calcification as revealed by c
omputed tomography (CT) scan is rare and is a characteristic finding o
f Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) and celiac disease (CD), These patients
had neither the facial nevus flammeus or neurological deficits charact
eristic of SWS, nor the gastrointestinal symptoms characteristic of CD
, CD is often accompanied by cerebral occipital calcification indistin
guishable from that of SWS, We demonstrate the presence of cerebral le
ptomeningeal angiomatosis (LA) by Gadolinium-DTPA-enhanced magnetic re
sonance imaging (MRI) but could not detect LA by either CT scanning or
angiography, It has been reported that contrast-enhanced MRI is usefu
l to detect LA in SWS, However, we found no reports of enhanced MRI in
patients with SWS without facial angioma. If future studies can demon
strate the absence of cortical enhancement by contrast-enhanced MRT in
CD with cerebral calcifications, enhanced MRI would become an importa
nt tool for differentiating CD from SWS. (C) 1997 by Elsevier Science
Inc. All rights reserved.