
Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Pituitary adenoma CT
Introduction
Overview
Overview
On head CT scan may be helpful in the diagnosis of pituitary adenoma. Findings on CT scan suggestive of pituitary adenoma include a large suprasellar mass that invade surrounding structures, calcification, and rarely hemorrhage.
Key CT Scan Findings in Pituitary Adenoma
Key CT Scan Findings in Pituitary Adenoma
Microadenoma
- Historically, before the advent of MRI, the pituitary was imaged with CT scan.
- Although CT scan is able to detect up to 80-90% of microadenomas (5-10mm in size), it has less sensitivity to smaller adenomas (less than 5mm in size).[1]
Macroadenoma
- A large suprasellar mass that typically characterized by:[2]
- An attenuation similar to that of the brain (30-40 HU)
- Moderate contrast enhancement
- Invasion of the surrounding structures
- Calcification and hemorrhage are rarely seen.
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Large hyperdense sellar mass extending into the suprasellar region and causing displacement of surrounding structures. [3]
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Large hyperdense sellar mass extending into the suprasellar region and causing displacement of surrounding structures. [3]
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There is a well defined round isodense lesion noted in the pituitary fossa, the lesion is widening the sella.[4]
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There is a well defined round isodense lesion noted in the pituitary fossa, the lesion is widening the [4]
References
References
- ↑ Pituitary Microadenoma. Dr Amir Rezaee and Dr Frank Gaillard. Radiopaedia.org 2015. http://radiopaedia.org/articles/pituitary-microadenoma
- ↑ Pituitary Macroadenoma. Dr Bruno Di Muzio and Dr Yuranga Weerakkody. Radiopaedia.org 2015. http://radiopaedia.org/articles/pituitary-macroadenoma-1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Image courtesy of Dr. Gagandeep Choudhary. Radiopaedia (original file here). Creative Commons BY-SA-NC
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Case contributed by Radswiki. [1] (original file [2]).
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [3] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Ahmad Al Maradni, M.D. [4]

![Large hyperdense sellar mass extending into the suprasellar region and causing displacement of surrounding structures. [3]](https://www.wikidoc.org/images/b/b7/Pituitary_adenoma.jpg)
![Large hyperdense sellar mass extending into the suprasellar region and causing displacement of surrounding structures. [3]](https://www.wikidoc.org/images/8/87/Pituitary_adenoma.1.jpg)
![There is a well defined round isodense lesion noted in the pituitary fossa, the lesion is widening the sella.[4]](https://www.wikidoc.org/images/6/6e/Pituitary-macroadenoma-CT-01.jpg)
![There is a well defined round isodense lesion noted in the pituitary fossa, the lesion is widening the [4]](https://www.wikidoc.org/images/8/86/Pituitary-macroadenoma-CT-02.jpg)