Radiological evaluation of sellar lesions.

The treatment and prognosis of sellar region masses differ according to the type of tumor, therefore, accurate assessment of the characteristics of the lesion as well as extent of the process is important. Evaluation of these tumors by various imaging modalities has revealed certain definable characteristics. Many of these processes, however, share similarities on any given imaging format. For this reason complete evaluation may require conventional skull radiography, complex motion tomography, radionuclide imaging, computed tomography, cerebral air or metrizamide studies, or cerebral angiography. Utilizing a combination of diagnostic modalities, definable characteristics of various types of tumors have been evolved which often may allow distinction of benign and malignant processes.