Measurement of pituitary gland height with MR imaging.

From sagittal magnetic resonance (MR) images with 10 mm slice thickness, the mean vertical height of the pituitary gland in 42 normal patients was found to be 5.4 +/- 0.9 mm. Computed tomographic (CT) scans in the coronal plane showed the same. Measurements of pituitary size in 13 patients with tumors using both CT and MR were also essentially equivalent. The ease, comfort, and accuracy of the MR pituitary measurement supports its use as the examination of choice for measuring pituitary height.