Magnetic resonance imaging of the sella turcica and parasellar region. A clinical-radiographic evaluation with computed tomography.

Thirty-one magnetic resonance (MR) scans and computed tomography (CT) scans were obtained on 25 patients in whom lesions involving the sella turcica or parasellar region were clinically suspected. Surgical pathologic studies were available in 19 cases. Twenty-two of the MR scans were of diagnostic value equivalent to that of the corresponding CT studies. In two small meningiomas, an empty sella, and a sphenoid-middle fossa tumor, MR technology failed to delineate the pathologic process adequately. In the remaining five patients, MR either more convincingly demonstrated the pathologic anatomy or yielded diagnostic information not present in the CT study. In view of the absence of ionizing radiation, high degree of tissue contrast and spatial resolution, and multiplanar capability, magnetic resonance scanning will probably become the initial imaging modality of choice in patients suspected of harboring sellar and parasellar tumors.