Pituitary region mass (mnemonic)

Last revised by Francis Deng ◉ on 9 Dec 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Bergen D, Deng F, Campos A, et al. Pituitary region mass (mnemonic). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 11 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-4617

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-4617

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/4617

rID:

4617

Article created:

22 Sep 2008, Daryl Bergen

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Daryl Bergen had no recorded disclosures.

View Daryl Bergen's current disclosures

Last revised:

9 Dec 2024, Francis Deng ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Francis Deng had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Francis Deng's current disclosures

Revisions:

17 times, by 14 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System, Head & Neck

Sections:

Mnemonics

Tags:

suprasellar mass

Synonyms:

SATCHMOE (mnemonic)
SATCHMO (mnemonic)
Pituitary region masses (mnemonic) -SATCHMO
MOuSTACHE (mnemonic)
SOME ACTH Hormone
STOMACH

Useful mnemonics for remembering the differentials for pituitary region masses (in addition to macroadenoma) are:

SATCHMO/STOMACH ^1,2
MOuSTACHE
SOME ACTH HORMONE

Mnemonics

SATCHMO/STOMACH

S: sarcoid
A: aneurysm
T: teratoma or tuberculosis (and other granulomatous diseases)
C: craniopharyngioma, cleft cyst (Rathke), chordoma
H: hypothalamic glioma, hamartoma of tuber cinereum, histiocytosis
M: meningioma, metastasis
O: optic nerve glioma

Some prefer adding an E at the end and moving 'histiocytosis' to this last letter as:

E: eosinophilic granuloma or epidermoid/dermoid/teratoma

Some prefer to reorder the mnemonic to spell 'STOMACH' instead.

MOuSTACHE

M: meningioma, metastasis
O: optic nerve glioma
S: sarcoidosis, sellar tumor (pituitary adenoma)
T: teratoma or tuberculosis (and other granulomatous diseases)
A: aneurysm
C: craniopharyngioma, cleft cyst (Rathke), chordoma
H: hypothalamic glioma, hamartoma of tuber cinereum.
E: eosinophilic granuloma or epidermoid/dermoid/teratoma

SOME ACTH HORMONE

History and etymology

The word Satchmo is best known as the nickname of Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), an American jazz musician. Satchmo is short for "Satchelmouth." For this reason, it is probably best to omit the ending E from the mnemonic, especially as the term histiocytosis is preferred to eosinophilic granuloma.