[Hemorrhage within pituitary adenomas: possibilities of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging methods]

The purpose of this study was to determine the character of MR findings in the cases of intratumoral hemorrhage within pituitary adenomas, and to correlate them with surgery and CT. In our study we included 86 patients with pituitary adenomas, who underwent surgery at the Clinic of Neurosurgery at Kaunas Medical University Hospital. In 23% (n = 20) of cases with MR evidence of intratumoral hemorrhage the variety of focal MR signal changes was observed in dependence of hemoglobin degradation process and accumulation of blood products. CT demonstrated only 10% (n = 2) of cases with acute intratumoral hemorrhage. The nonspecific hypodensities within pituitary adenomas were observed in 35% (n = 7) cases. Fifty-five percent (n = 11) of cases demonstrated no focal changes. All surgically discovered hemorrhages within pituitary adenomas were clinically asymptomatic.