Spontaneous Partial Empty Sella. A Study of 41 Cases

Summary

53 cases of partial empty sella turcica have been studied, both clinically and radiologically. Excluding 12 with an incomplete endocrine study, 41 remain of which 31 cases (75.6%) were found to have an adenohypophyseal hyperfunction of the hyperplasia (primary hypothyroidism, etc.) or adenoma type (acromegaly, etc.); 4 (9.7%) had a clear neurological cause (head trauma, thrombosis in the venous sinus, hydrocephalus) and only 6 (14.6%) were of unknown, primary or idiopathic cause.

The published cases of “primary” partial empty sella have been revised, proposing: the substitution of the term “primary” for “spontaneous”, since as we have already pointed out, the majority of the “spontaneous” cases are attributable to pituitary hyperfunction and a few of them to neurological or neurosurgical processes.

Finally, we should like to emphasize the importance of empty sella in the prognosis and treatment of those patients whose most exact diagnostic terminology would be, for example, hypothyroidism “with” partial empty sella turcica, or, as another example, prolactinoma “with” empty sella.

Key words

Empty sella turcica - pituitary adenomas - pituitary hyperfunction - primary hypothyroidism - galactorrhea - prolactinoma - acromegaly - addison's disease