Sella 'erosions' in a series of 50 normal women: the place of tomography in the diagnosis of prolactin secreting pituitary microadenoma.

The following paper assesses the results of pluridirectional tomograms in 50 normal females of reproductive age, as reflected by the opinions given by 4 different radiologists with major interest in the pituitary fossa. Only 16 of the 50 tomograms were uniformly read as normal. The study has merit in highlighting the 'abnormalities' of the pituitary fossa in what appear to be a group of normal controls, and to stress the phenomenon of observer variations. It is suggested, therefore, that sella tomograms alone are incapable of diagnosing with sufficient accuracy the presence of pituitary microadenoma in a young woman and, therefore, should not be performed as a routine in the evaluation of patients suspected of prolactin secreting microadenoma.