Pituitary question
 

I had an MRI done on 10-2009. This is what it says about the pituitary: There is some very subtle differential enhancement within the central pituitary. Cannot completely exclude the presence of a pituitary adenoma. Somewhat nodular appearance within the posterior pituitary. Somewhat heterogeneous appearance of the pituitary gland. The possibility of a pituitary microadenoma should be considered. This was not mentioned on a previous MRI on 7-2009 nor on a subsequent MRI on 7-2010. I am just wondering if this is something I should be concerned about or not.

Hello misysme, and welcome to NeuroTalk.

Should you be worried with that MRI report? Well, if it was my MRI, I wouldn't be too concerned, but I would want my doctor to talk to me about it.

I have no experience in reading MRIs except for my own, and I am not a doctor or a radiologist, but I did want to try and allay some of your fears if I could, and to do so, I thought I'd try and explain the report one bit at a time.

"There is some very subtle differential enhancement within the central pituitary."

This means that one area on the scan showed a little brighter than other areas, but only faintly.

Subtle means faint. Differential enhancement means that there's something there (the signal the MRI received in doing the picture is stronger, thus enhanced).

They cannot completely exclude a pituitary adenoma....which means they didn't see one, but they won't rule out the possibility....they are keeping their options open.

A pituitary adenoma is a common (almost always) benign tumor, and they account for approximately 15% of all brain tumors.

If you were to have one of these, the treatment is dependent on many factors including size, and the severity of your symptoms.

From memory, I think they use medications in the first line, and endoscopic surgery if necessary. Not major brain surgery.

Here’s a good site for you to read up on pituitary adenomas : http://neurosurgery.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=205

"Somewhat heterogeneous appearance of the pituitary gland."

Somewhat means more or less/approximate

Heterogenous means uniform

This means that the appearance of the pituitary gland looks to be within normal limits.

“The possibility of a pituitary microadenoma should be considered.”

This means they can not rule out the presence of a tiny little benign tumor in the pituitary gland.

All in all, the report says that an area showed up very faintly on your MRI. This shadow is in the area of your pituitary gand, and just might be an adenoma. Adenomas are almost always benign.


I hope that helps. You really do need to get your doctor to go through it with you though.

Wow, thank you Koala77. When I went to the second neurologist this is the kind of explanation I was looking for. I ask questions and the doctors just brush it off. I really do appreciate all of your time and effort to explain this issue to me. Thanks again!