What does sella enlargement mean?

For young people, enlarged sella turcica may be a sign of pituitary atrophy, which can affect endocrine function. Therefore, timely treatment is required. If not treated in time, children may develop gigantism. If the sella turcica is enlarged in the elderly, it is mostly a normal condition. However, the specific situation needs to be judged in combination with the condition of the disease, and generally no treatment is required.

What are the dangers of vacuolar sella

First: Empty sella syndrome is a series of clinical manifestations caused by sella turcica defect or pituitary atrophy, which causes the subarachnoid space to protrude into the sella turcica under the impact of cerebrospinal fluid pressure, resulting in enlargement of the sella turcica and compression of the pituitary gland. Headache is the most common symptom. Generally, targeted treatment is given based on one's own symptoms. If the symptoms are mild, no treatment is required.

Second: Empty sella syndrome is caused by the sella turcica being symmetrically spherical or square-shaped, the sella turcica may be enlarged, the dorsum may be thinned, the sella diaphragm may be defective or absent, and the pituitary gland may be flattened and lie flat against the sella turcica bottom or sella turcica wall. The remaining space is filled with the subarachnoid space, which contains colorless and transparent cerebrospinal fluid and communicates with the subarachnoid space outside the sella turcica. The arachnoid membrane outside the sella turcica may become thickened and adherent.

Third: Currently, patients with obvious visual impairment should undergo surgical exploration. If there is adhesion around the optic nerve, adhesion lysis can improve vision to a certain extent. It can be treated with an artificial septum sellae. For patients with concurrent cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, a transsphenoidal approach is performed to fill the pituitary fossa with muscle and bone grafts.

After suffering from vacuolar sella, if there is no change in vision or visual field, no treatment is required. In severe cases, surgery is the only treatment, but it may not necessarily relieve symptoms. If there is no requirement for fertility, no special treatment is required. Taking vitamins will not work for this and there is no need to take them.

Sella turcica treatment care

It depends on the cause and symptoms. Mild cases do not require treatment. Medical treatment includes symptomatic management and hormone replacement therapy. The following situations are indications for surgery: severe visual impairment and visual field changes; suspected sellar tumors causing hypopituitarism; unbearable and unexplained headaches; large amounts of arachnoid filling with sellar floor bone absorption; cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea; severe intracranial hypertension with signs of gyral pressure and cranial suture separation. The surgical method depends on the cause and condition of the disease. If the optic nerve is obviously sunken and stretched, it can be packed with frozen dura mater, fat, muscle or acrylic sponge to make an artificial diaphragm sellae to elevate the optic nerve. Adhesion lysis can be performed for severe visual impairment. Severe cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea can be treated by sellar floor reconstruction. Severe benign intracranial hypertension can be treated by cerebrospinal fluid drainage. Non-tumor cysts can be treated by drainage and partial resection of the cyst capsule.