Bright lesions on sellar/parasellar T1-weighted scans.
Eighty-seven patients with sellar and parasellar pathology were evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging to categorize lesions with hyperintensity on T1-weighted images. Postoperative fat packing after transsphenoidal hypophysectomy, intratumoral subacute or chronic hemorrhage in pituitary adenomas, and hemorrhagic or fat-containing craniopharyngiomas accounted for 33 of 35 abnormalities with short T1 values. Forty-three percent of nonsurgically treated pituitary adenomas had subacute intratumoral hemorrhage present. Using T2-weighted images to distinguish fat from subacute hemorrhage and attempting to identify the normal anterior pituitary gland on T1-weighted images may help to differentiate these three entities. T1-weighted images alone were not sufficient to distinguish between all sellar and parasellar masses.
Yousem
D M
DM
Department of Radiology, Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
Arrington
J A
JA
Kumar
A J
AJ
Bryan
R N
RN
D000236:Adenoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003397:Craniopharyngioma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000473:pathology; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012658:Sella Turcica / Q000473:pathology