Thin section CT of normal pituitary glands.
In order to better understand the CT appearance of the normal pituitary gland, we scrutinized the pituitary glands of 55 patients who had no clinical indication of pituitary abnormality. The superior surface of the pituitary gland was convex in 9 cases (16.4%), flat in 16 (29.1%), and concave in 30 (54.5%). All but one of the glands with upward convexity belonged to patients less than 40 years old. The height of the pituitary glands was from 2 mm to 7 mm in 48 (87.3%) and 7 mm to 9.1 mm in 7 (12.7%); all but one case was less than 40 years old. Although earlier reports have suggested the presence of a pituitary microadenoma when the gland has a convexity of its superior surface or is more than 7 mm in height, these findings can be seen in normal pituitary glands, particularly in younger individuals. Therefore, pituitary microadenoma should be diagnosed carefully in younger patients. The low density area frequently seen in the superior aspect of pituitary glands on axial scans was found to result from the concave superior surface of the gland. The pituitary stalk was off the midline in five patients (9%). Shifting of the pituitary stalk can be seen in the normal pituitary gland and is not always characteristic of microadenoma.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed