Computed tomographic study of morphometry of sella turcica in north Karnataka region

Abstract

Introduction; Sella turcica is an important structure in middle cranial fossa, which lodges master of endocrine gland pituitary gland. It is a saddle shaped concavity in the body of sphenoid bone. It is bounded by dura of cavernous sinuses bilaterally, the lamina dura and dorsum sellae posteriorly and the tuberculum sellae and planum sphenoidale anteriorly. Objectives of the study: To establish the normative reference standards of sellar morphometry in adults and to look for sexual dimorphism of sella turcica. Materials and methods: This is a hospital based cross sectional study. Consent form duly signed has been taken. 1650 Computed tomographic images of skulls covering sellar region from patients undergoing CT scan from radiology department of SNMC and HSK hospital, Bagalkot, and were analyzed for the sellar morphology by using radiant dicom viewer software. The patients were divided in to five groups with an interval of 10 years. Clinical features of the patients were also being noted down in the proforma. The morphology as sellar length, width, sellar height anterior , posterior, median, sellar area were measured and morphological variations and shapes of sella were described. Results: Normal sella was found in 90% of the participants. 65% of the participants had oval shaped sella and least had flat shaped sella. Whereas no statistical significant difference was observed in the morphometry of sella turcica among the male and female age groups as well as between the two genders. Conclusion: The result of this study will serve as a normative reference standard for morphology of sella turcica that could assist in more objective evaluation and detection of pathological conditions of sella turcica and pituitary gland.