[Behaviour of the sella turcica in juveniles with severe iron deficiency (author's transl)].

In juvenile patients with a severe and longstanding iron deficiency disease several abnormal features such as delayed growth, retarded development and maturation are displayed. The roentgenological examination of the sella turcica in 81 patients and the determination of the sellar size in 73 cases, including 40 men and 33 women, by employing the method of Haas with a slight modification and the following comparison of the results with the values obtained by this author in normal individuals of the same sex and age revealed that in the iron deficient patients the sellar area is considerably reduced. In addition, it could be shown that in the patients the normal augmentation of the size with the advancing age is likewise diminished and comes to an early standstill. It could be, moreover, demonstrated that in men the sellar size and growth are more reduced than in women and that the difference in the patients is much larger than the difference existing normally between both sexes. The reduced size of the sella turcica in the patients indicated that the pituitary gland placed in the sellar cavity is likewise diminished and that the activity of the gland, as far as the function is related to the volume, is equally decreased. This assumption is in good keeping with the clinical findings in the patients being attributed to a low and failing hormonal activity. The close relation between volume and function of the pituitary gland, is proved by the observation made in the patients after the administration of iron showing that the size of the sella is considerably augmented during a relatively short space of time and that at the same time a definite amelioration of clinical symptoms occurs. Thus the X-ray examination of the sella turcica and the determination of its area is a suitable method for a comparative investigation of the size and function of the pituitary gland. It offers a valuable tool for studying the disorders of growth, development and maturation in juvenile patients with a severe and longstanding iron deficiency disease and for investigating the relation of these clinical features to the pituitary function.