J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  2014 Jun;55(6):887-890.

Quantitative Measurement of the Sella Turcica in Pseudotumor Cerebri

• Ghim WH
• Kyung SE

Abstract

PURPOSE
In this study we evaluated the hypothesis that sella turcica enlarged in size due to increased intracranial hypertension by measuring the sella turcica area using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with increased intracranial hypertension and compared to normal controls.
METHODS
Brain magnetic resonance (MR) midsagittal images of patients diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri from 2005 to 2012 at Dankook University Hospital and 10 normal controls who had no overt signs or symptoms of neurological disease and had normal gadolinium-enhanced MR examination of brain were compared. The area of the sella turcica was measured by the double-blind method using Dicomworks v 1.3.5b (Philippe Puech and Loic Boussel, Freeware, France). Statistical analysis was conducted using GraphPad Prism (GraphPad Software, Inc., USA) and Mann-Whitney U-test.
RESULTS
The sella turcica areas of 2 pseudotumor cerebri patients were 93 mm2 and 123 mm2 and were significantly larger than in the controls (p = 0.03).
CONCLUSIONS
Empty sella which commonly occurs in pseudotumor cerebri can be caused by pituitary gland atrophy but, conversely, can result from the enlargement of the bony sella in response to an abnormal cerebrospinal fluid pressure gradient.

Keyword

Empty sella; Increased intracranial hypertension; Pseudotumor cerebri; Sella turcica

MeSH Terms

Atrophy
Brain
Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure
Double-Blind Method
Humans
Intracranial Hypertension
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Pituitary Gland
Pseudotumor Cerebri*
Sella Turcica*

Figure

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  Figure 1. (A) T1-weighted mid-sagittal image of the sella turcica and pituitary gland from a normal subject. (B) Drawing showing the dimensions that were measured to determine the opening (solid line) and contour (dotted line) of the sella turcica. In this example, the sella area = 93 mm.

• 

  Figure 2. Tl-weighted mid-sagittal image of 17-year-old wom-an patient showed partially empty sella (turcica area: 93 mm2).

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  Figure 3. Tl-weighted mid-sagittal image of 28-year-old wom-an patient showed prominent empty sella (turcica area: 123 mm2).

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  Figure 4. The size of pseudotumor cerebri patients’ sella turcia was each 123 mm2, 93 mm2 and the median value was 108 mm2. The median value of the control group's sella turcia size was 67.5 mm2.

Reference

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