- Part 1 Principles of international endocrine practice
- Part 2 Pituitary and hypothalamic diseases
- 2.1 General concepts of hypothalamus-pituitary anatomy
- 2.2 The neurohypophysis
- 2.3 Aetiology, pathogenesis, and management of disease of the pituitary
- 2.3.1 Development of the pituitary and genetic forms of hypopituitarism
- 2.3.2 Molecular pathogenesis of pituitary tumours
- 2.3.3 Histopathology of pituitary tumours
- 2.3.4 Pituitary assessment strategy
- 2.3.5 Imaging of the pituitary
- 2.3.6 Hypopituitarism: replacement of adrenal, thyroid, and gonadal axes
- 2.3.7 Adult growth hormone deficiency
- 2.3.8 Surgery of pituitary tumours
- 2.3.9 Pituitary radiotherapy
- 2.3.10 Prolactinomas and hyperprolactinaemia (including macroprolactinaemia)
- 2.3.11 Acromegaly
- 2.3.12 Clinically nonfunctioning pituitary tumours and gonadotropinomas
- 2.3.13 Thyrotropinomas
- 2.3.14 Pituitary carcinoma
- 2.3.15 Pituitary incidentalomas
- 2.4 Aetiology, pathogenesis, and management of diseases of the hypothalamus
- 2.5 Pineal physiology and pathophysiology, including pineal tumours
- 2.6 Neuropsychiatric endocrinological disorders
- Part 3 The thyroid
- Part 4 Parathyroid, calcium, and bone metabolism
- Part 5 The adrenal gland and endocrine hypertension
- Part 6 Neuroendocrine tumours and genetic disorders
- Part 7 Growth and development during childhood
- Part 8 Female endocrinology and pregnancy
- Part 9 Male hypogonadism and infertility
- Part 10 Endocrinology of ageing and systemic disease
- Part 11 Endocrinology of cancer
- Part 12 Obesity, lipids, and metabolic disorders
- Part 13 Diabetes mellitus
Imaging of the pituitary
- Chapter:
- Imaging of the pituitary
- Author(s):
J. V. Byrne
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199235292.003.2070
MRI is the optimum method of imaging the pituitary of patients with suspected pituitary disease though CT is an acceptable alternative. The advantages of MRI are: direct multiplanar scanning, lack of ionizing radiation, and good anatomical tissue discrimination. Imaging the pituitary gland and hypothalamus is best performed in the sagittal and coronal planes because they show the relationships between gland and adjacent structures. Scanning in the axial plane alone is a poor technique for demonstrating vertical relationships between structures lying between the floor of the third ventricle and sella turcica. Computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of axially acquired data (by MR or CT) and can be viewed in any plane can compensate but usually direct scanning gives better resolution images.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Part 1 Principles of international endocrine practice
- Part 2 Pituitary and hypothalamic diseases
- 2.1 General concepts of hypothalamus-pituitary anatomy
- 2.2 The neurohypophysis
- 2.3 Aetiology, pathogenesis, and management of disease of the pituitary
- 2.3.1 Development of the pituitary and genetic forms of hypopituitarism
- 2.3.2 Molecular pathogenesis of pituitary tumours
- 2.3.3 Histopathology of pituitary tumours
- 2.3.4 Pituitary assessment strategy
- 2.3.5 Imaging of the pituitary
- 2.3.6 Hypopituitarism: replacement of adrenal, thyroid, and gonadal axes
- 2.3.7 Adult growth hormone deficiency
- 2.3.8 Surgery of pituitary tumours
- 2.3.9 Pituitary radiotherapy
- 2.3.10 Prolactinomas and hyperprolactinaemia (including macroprolactinaemia)
- 2.3.11 Acromegaly
- 2.3.12 Clinically nonfunctioning pituitary tumours and gonadotropinomas
- 2.3.13 Thyrotropinomas
- 2.3.14 Pituitary carcinoma
- 2.3.15 Pituitary incidentalomas
- 2.4 Aetiology, pathogenesis, and management of diseases of the hypothalamus
- 2.5 Pineal physiology and pathophysiology, including pineal tumours
- 2.6 Neuropsychiatric endocrinological disorders
- Part 3 The thyroid
- Part 4 Parathyroid, calcium, and bone metabolism
- Part 5 The adrenal gland and endocrine hypertension
- Part 6 Neuroendocrine tumours and genetic disorders
- Part 7 Growth and development during childhood
- Part 8 Female endocrinology and pregnancy
- Part 9 Male hypogonadism and infertility
- Part 10 Endocrinology of ageing and systemic disease
- Part 11 Endocrinology of cancer
- Part 12 Obesity, lipids, and metabolic disorders
- Part 13 Diabetes mellitus