title: Assessment of computed tomographic artefact in the pituitary fossa following needle implantation of radioactive rods.
abstract: Computed tomographic scans of the pituitary fossa following treatment of pituitary tumours by interstitial irradiation were reviewed for the degree of metallic artefact created by the rods. Among 50 patients treated with 90Y rods alone, none showed artefact to a degree that caused technically unsatisfactory images in coronal or axial cuts. Among the seven patients who had been treated with 198Au, either alone (two patients) or with both 198Au and 90Y rods (five patients), six had severe artefact and in five of these the images were technically unsatisfactory in both coronal and axial slices. We conclude that following implantation of 90Y rods, the currently preferred isotope, the pituitary fossa can be satisfactorily assessed by computed tomography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Joplin
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000532:radiotherapy; D001918:Brachytherapy; D006050:Gold Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D012658:Sella Turcica / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D015021:Yttrium Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D006050:Gold Radioisotopes; D015021:Yttrium Radioisotopes