Conventionally, a pituitary mass was presumed to exist should the sella appear expanded on conventional x-ray. Today, MRI affords the diagnostician, through actual visualization of the pituitary gland, the ability to characterize its size, configuration, and enhancing characteristics. Our purpose is to demonstrate how MR assesses precise ranges in size, configuration, and volume of the pituitary gland as well as the hypophyseal stalk, and the optic chiasm in the different age groups One hundred six subjects of Asian descent at the Makati Medical Center with normal MR examinations of the pituitary gland were studied from December 1995 to February 1997.

Results showed that the volume of the pituitary gland increases with age, in males peaking at 21-35 years; in females, continuously increasing until late adulthood. The shape of the gland varies from concave downward to convex upwards at its superior border, correlated to the age group. Female pituitary stalks are consistently longer than their male counterparts. The stalk thickness is the same among males and females. The stalk inserts into the middle surface of the gland in more than 50% sagittally and more than 90% coronally. The configuration of the optic chiasm is dependent on the anterior to posterior coronal section of the scan showing varying appearances, but normal.

Makati Medical Center Proceedings, 1999 (13) pages 40-46