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Objective To quantify the prevalence of incidental findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

Data sources Ovid Medline (1950 to May 2008), Embase (1980 to May 2008), and bibliographies of relevant articles.

Review methods Two reviewers sought and assessed studies of people without neurological symptoms who underwent MRI of the brain with or without intravenous contrast for research purposes or for occupational, clinical, or commercial screening.

Main outcome measures Overall disease specific and age specific prevalence of incidental brain findings, calculated by meta-analysis of pooled proportions using DerSimonian-Laird weights in a random effects model.

Results In 16 studies, 135 of 19 559 people had neoplastic incidental brain findings (prevalence 0.70%, 95% confidence interval 0.47% to 0.98%), and …