Alterations In Size Of Pituitary Gland In Patients With Alzheimer Disease Process: A Structural MR Imaging Study

Objective:To study size alterations of pituitary gland in patients with Alzheimer disease(AD) and mild cognitive impairment(MCI) by MRI, To speculated significance of pituitary MRI scans in early diagnosis of AD.Methods:Brain MRI scans in 41 normal controls(NC group), 36 patients with mild cognitive impairment(MCI group) and 41 patients with Alzheimer disease(AD group) were obtained respectively. Dimensions of anteroposterior, width, height, stalk of the pituitary gland and the volume were measured and standardized.group comparisons were statistically obtained, and then various measured values of pituitary and the neuropsychological scale score were statistically analyzed by correlation analysis.Results:The standardized anteroposterior diameter and volume of pituitary gland had an increase in MCI group comparing with NC group(t=3.882,P =0.000)and had a reduction in AD group comparing with MCI group(t=5.533,P =0.000), and there was no difference between NC group and AD group. The standardized volume were larger in MCI group than in NC group(t=2.192,P =0.030) and in AD group(t=2.223,P=0.028), there was no difference between NC group and AD group. There were no differences in the standardized width, height and pituitary stalk between NC group, MCI group and AD group respectively.Conclusion : In AD process, the size of the pituitary gland will increase in MCI stage, and then show reductive tendency in AD stage.