DYNAMIC ENHANCEMENT MRI OF ANTERIOR LOBE IN PITUITARY DWARFISM

We examined 23 patients with pituitary dwarfism by dynamic MRI; with a repetition time of 150 or 50 ms. The time-enhancement difference curv es of selected regions in the anterior lobes were plotted. Another 48 patients with no definite clinical pituitary disfunction were examined with the same technique. We found that the intensity of maximum enhan cement in both groups was similar, but the time to achieve maximum enh ancement was delayed in pituitary dwarfism with or without stalk trans ection; the time seemed longest with stalk transection, There was litt le difference in enhancement between patients with multiple hormone de ficiency or isolated growth hormone deficiency. Dynamic MRI of the ant erior lobes may be an important functional imaging study, and our resu lts imply that poor perfusion is a useful finding in pituitary dwarfis m, especially in patients without stalk transection and normal pituita ry height.