Eur J Anat, 12 (1): 47-50 (2008)

Sella turcica morphometry using computed tomography

Ruiz C.R., Wafae N., Wafae G.C.

Disciplina de Anatomia, Centro Universitário São Camilo, São Camilo, SP 042211, Brazil; Departamento de Anatomia Descritiva e Topográfica, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, UNIFESP - EPM, São Paulo, Brazil; Rua Roberto Koch, no34, Ipiranga 042211-060, Brazil

ABSTRACT Along the development of imaging diagnosis technology, it has become increasingly important to perform morphological research using images. Our aim here was to study the sella turcica using tomographic imaging in different planes of section that would reveal its shape and morphometry, correlating such data with the cranium-cephalic index, age and sex of the skulls analyzed. For this study, one hundred skulls from the Department of Anatomy at UNIFESP were used. The material, after being measured and classified, was subjected to tomography in three planes, coronal, axial and sagittal, and immediately after this, the following measurements were calculated with the images obtained: height on sagittal sections, length on axial sections and area of the sella on sagittal sections. The results for the sella turcica radiological measurements were as follows: length from 6 to 15.1 mm, with a mean of 10.31 mm; height from 2.9 mm to 11.1 mm, with a mean of 6.33 mm, and area from 8 mm? to 79 mm? with a mean of 41.21 mm?. The sella turcica is a constant anatomic structure, but with a variable shape.

Keywords: anatomical variation, article, axial plane, body regions, computer assisted tomography, coronal plane, human, image analysis, measurement, morphology, radiological parameters, sagittal plane, sella turcica, skull measurement, skull scintiscanning, structure analysis