title: Pituitary abscess: CT and MRI findings.
abstract: We report a patient with a pituitary abscess which was incidentally found after he had sustained a head injury. This 61-year-old man had no clinical or laboratory evidence suggestive of a pituitary lesion. A precontrast-enhanced brain computed tomograph (CT) showed a slightly hyperdense tumor. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed hyperintensity on T1-weighted images, but central hypointensity with peripheral ring-form hyperintensity on proton density-weighted and T2-weighted images. These CT and MRI characteristics may have been attributable to the abundant proteinaceous content of the abscess. Therefore, the appearance of a pituitary abscess in image studies may be variable depending on the abscess composition.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Kaohsiung Medical College.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Howng
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010900:Pituitary Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D013624:Taiwan; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed