Evaluation of pituitary gland dimensions by age and gender in healthy individuals in the Turkish population

Aim: Evaluating pituitary gland dimensions in varying age ranges and genders is essential for determining average values in MRI examinations. Therefore, the main objective of our study is to create normative data for pituitary gland size in the Turkish population. Material and Method: Anteroposterior (AP), transverse (TR), and craniocaudal (CC) dimensions of the pituitary glands of 200 patients over 18 years of age, who underwent Brain MRI examination in our centre between November 2022 and March 2023, did not have any known endocrine disease, did not use hormonal therapy, were not pregnant or breastfeeding, had no history of radiotherapy or chemotherapy were measured from their sagittal and axial MRI sequences. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for normality analyses. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the non-normally distributed numerical variables between the two groups. Spearman correlation was applied to determine the relationship between age and pituitary gland measurement values. Results: Anteroposterior and craniocaudal measurements of the pituitary gland of female patients included in the study were significantly higher than males (p=0.011 and p<0.01, respectively). When the patients under 50 years of age and those aged 50 and over are grouped, anteroposterior, transverse, and craniocaudal measurements were found to be significantly higher in the group under 50 years old (p<0.001). When the patient groups between 18-29 and 30-49 were compared, anteroposterior, transverse, and craniocaudal measurements were higher in the group between 18-29 (p<0.01, p<0.001, and p=0.026, respectively). Conclusion: This work gives normative data that may simplify the examination of the pituitary gland in neuroendocrine diseases. It also reveals that gender-specific changes in pituitary size and shape accompany aging. Changes related to race, age, and gender should be kept in mind.

Keywords:

Magnetic resonance imaging normal pituitary gland, sella turcica,

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