What are Sellar masses?

Background: Sellar masses (SM) are mostly benign growths of pituitary or nonpituitary origin that are increasingly encountered in clinical practice. To date, no comprehensive population-based study has reported the epidemiology of SM from North America.

What is sella and Parasellar?

The sellar region includes the sella turcica and the pituitary gland, together with the ventral adenohypophysis and dorsal neurohypophysis. The parasellar region encompasses the cavernous sinuses, suprasellar cistern, hypothalamus, and ventral inferior third ventricle.

What causes Sellar Mass?

Pituitary adenomas are the most common cause of a mass in the sella.

What is the Sellar Region of brain?

The area immediately around the pituitary, the sellar region and parasellar region, is an anatomically complex area that represents a crucial crossroads for important adjacent structures. The pituitary gland and sella are located below the center of the brain in the center of the skull base.

What does Sellar mean?

Medical Definition of sellar : of, relating to, or involving the sella turcica the sellar region.

What is Sellar Suprasellar mass?

Suprasellar masses are neoplastic, vascular, congenital, or infectious/inflammatory in origin. Suprasellar masses present with a variety of neurologic or endocrine dysfunctions depending on their site of origin and mass effect on adjacent structures.

What is Sellar lesion?

Sellar masses are associated most commonly with pituitary adenomas. Many other neoplastic, inflammatory, infectious, and vascular lesions, however, may affect the sellar region and mimic pituitary tumors. These lesions must be considered in a differential diagnosis.

What is the definition of Sellar?

What are Suprasellar masses?

Suprasellar masses are neoplastic, vascular, congenital, or infectious/inflammatory in origin. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the study of choice for evaluating suprasellar masses, although computed tomography (CT) may provide complementary information.

What is a Sellar lesion?

What is an example of a Sellar joint?

A synovial joint in which the opposing surfaces resemble the shape of a saddle and are reciprocally concave-convex, allowing movements such as back and forth, side to side, and up and down, but not rotation. Example is the carpometacarpal joint of the thumb.

Where is a Suprasellar mass?

Suprasellar meningiomas tend to affect middle-aged men and women, account for about 10 percent of all meningiomas, and occur near the pituitary gland and optic nerves at the skull base. These slow-growing tumors can cause severe visual impairment in one or both eyes if they press directly on the optic nerves.

Which is the best treatment for Sellar masses?

Pituitary surgery is the primary treatment modality for most sellar masses (other than prolactinomas). The transsphenoidal route is preferred in patients with lesions accessible via this approach, as it is associated with less morbidity than craniotomy.

Which is the best Test to detect Sellar masses?

An MRI examination is generally the best study to characterize the majority of sellar masses. A pituitary protocol MRI examination, which includes focused views of the sella using T1-weighted coronal and sagittal sequences, both before and after gadolinium contrast administration, is needed to adequately visualize the sella.

Which is the most common cause of Sellar masses?

In children and adolescents with a sellar mass, craniopharyngiomas are the most common underlying pathology. In contrast, pituitary adenomas account for the vast majority of sellar masses in adults.

Is the Sellar and suprasellar region difficult to diagnose?

Generating differential diagnoses can be difficult because of the complexity of the structures in the sellar and suprasellar region. Dividing this region into the pituitary fossa, cavernous sinuses and the suprasellar cisterns can be helpful.