[Pituitary enlargement in spontaneous intracranial hypotension on MRI].
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether the pituitary gland enlarges in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH).


METHODS
All six patients were women ranging in age from 17 to 51 years. They developed severe headache that was completely relieved by lying flat, and MR imaging showed diffuse enhancement of the pachymeninx. They were clinically diagnosed with SIH. The height of the pituitary gland was measured on midsagittal MR image.


RESULTS
Pituitary heights ranged from 8 to 11 mm. The measurements were greater than the size of the normal pituitary gland in women described age-matched in the previous report. In one case, follow-up MR images showed that the size of the pituitary gland was decreased from 11 to 5 mm in height.


CONCLUSIONS
The pituitary gland was enlarged in all six patients with SIH on MR images. SIH may cause enlarged pituitary gland.
Shimazu
N
N
Department of Radiology, Yamanashi Hospital of Social Insurance.
Oba
H
H
Aoki
S
S
Monzawa
S
S
Makita
K
K
Araki
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019585:Intracranial Hypotension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000473:pathology*