Purely intrasellar pituitary masses have a similar differential as the more generic pituitary region mass gamut, or the mnemonic SATCHMO, although some entities are far more common than others.
Differential diagnosis
- pituitary hyperplasia
- pituitary microadenoma
- Rathke cleft cyst
- intracranial hypotension
- pituicytoma (aka posterior pituitary astrocytoma)
- inflammatory/infiltration
-
craniopharyngioma
- uncommon: only 5-15% of all craniopharyngiomas are confined to the fossa 1
- meningioma
- metastasis
- cavernous carotid artery aneurysm