OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of T2-DRIVE MRI sequence in the accurate measurement of pituitary stalk (PS) size and the identification of PS abnormalities in patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders without the use of gadolinium. DESIGN: This was a retrospective study conducted on 242 patients who underwent MRI due to pituitary dysfunction between 2006 and 2015. Among 135 eligible patients, 102 showed eutopic posterior pituitary (PP) gland and 33 showed 'ectopic' PP (EPP). METHODS: Two readers independently measured the size of PS in patients with eutopic PP at the proximal, midpoint and distal levels on pre- and post-contrast T1-weighted as well as T2-DRIVE images; PS visibility was assessed on pre-contrast T1 and T2-DRIVE sequences in those with EPP. The length, height, width and volume of the anterior pituitary (AP), PP height and length and PP area were analyzed. RESULTS: Significant agreement between the two readers was obtained for T2-DRIVE PS measurements in patients with 'eutopic' PP; a significant difference was demonstrated between the intraclass correlation coefficient calculated on the T2-DRIVE and the T1-pre- and post-contrast sequences. The percentage of PS identified by T2-DRIVE in EPP patients was 72.7% compared to 30.3% of T1 pre-contrast sequences. A significant association was found between the visibility of PS on T2-DRIVE and the height of AP. CONCLUSION: T2-DRIVE sequence is extremely precise and reliable for the evaluation of PS size and the recognition of PS abnormalities; the use of gadolinium-based contrast media does not add significant information and may thus be avoided.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of T2-DRIVE MRI sequence in the accurate measurement of pituitary stalk (PS) size and the identification of PS abnormalities in patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders without the use of gadolinium. DESIGN: This was a retrospective study conducted on 242 patients who underwent MRI due to pituitary dysfunction between 2006 and 2015. Among 135 eligible patients, 102 showed eutopic posterior pituitary (PP) gland and 33 showed 'ectopic' PP (EPP). METHODS: Two readers independently measured the size of PS in patients with eutopic PP at the proximal, midpoint and distal levels on pre- and post-contrast T1-weighted as well as T2-DRIVE images; PS visibility was assessed on pre-contrast T1 and T2-DRIVE sequences in those with EPP. The length, height, width and volume of the anterior pituitary (AP), PP height and length and PP area were analyzed. RESULTS: Significant agreement between the two readers was obtained for T2-DRIVE PS measurements in patients with 'eutopic' PP; a significant difference was demonstrated between the intraclass correlation coefficient calculated on the T2-DRIVE and the T1-pre- and post-contrast sequences. The percentage of PS identified by T2-DRIVE in EPP patients was 72.7% compared to 30.3% of T1 pre-contrast sequences. A significant association was found between the visibility of PS on T2-DRIVE and the height of AP. CONCLUSION: T2-DRIVE sequence is extremely precise and reliable for the evaluation of PS size and the recognition of PS abnormalities; the use of gadolinium-based contrast media does not add significant information and may thus be avoided.
Authors: Felice D'Arco; Livja Mertiri; Pim de Graaf; Bert De Foer; Katarina S Popovič; Maria I Argyropoulou; Kshitij Mankad; Hervé J Brisse; Amy Juliano; Mariasavina Severino; Sofie Van Cauter; Mai-Lan Ho; Caroline D Robson; Ata Siddiqui; Steve Connor; Sotirios Bisdas Journal: Neuroradiology Date: 2022-04-23 Impact factor: 2.804
Authors: Waleed A Azab; Luigi Maria Cavallo; Waleed Yousef; Tufail Khan; Domenico Solari; Paolo Cappabianca Journal: Childs Nerv Syst Date: 2022-02-22 Impact factor: 1.532
Authors: José I. Labarta; Michael B. Ranke; Mohamad Maghnie; David Martin; Laura Guazzarotti; Roland Pfäffle; Ekaterina Koledova; Jan M. Wit Journal: J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol Date: 2020-10-02
Authors: Didier Frappaz; Girish Dhall; Matthew J Murray; Stuart Goldman; Cecile Faure Conter; Jeffrey Allen; Rolf Dieter Kortmann; Daphne Haas-Kogen; Giovanni Morana; Jonathan Finlay; James C Nicholson; Ute Bartels; Mark Souweidane; Stefan Schönberger; Alexandre Vasiljevic; Patricia Robertson; Assunta Albanese; Claire Alapetite; Thomas Czech; Chin C Lau; Patrick Wen; David Schiff; Dennis Shaw; Gabriele Calaminus; Eric Bouffet Journal: Neuro Oncol Date: 2022-04-01 Impact factor: 13.029