ABSTRACT
Converging upon the relatively meager confines of the sella turcica is an impressive assembly of intricate anatomic structures-interfacing elements of neural, endocrine, vascular, osseous, and meningeal origins. That such functional
and morphologic diversity can be so intimately represented in so discrete an area of the neuraxis accounts for the broad histologic spectrum of neoplasia affecting the sellar and parasellar regions. At its center is the pituitary, an organ
prone to neoplastic transformation and the generation of some of the most clinically spectacular syndromes known to medicine. A sprinkling of embryonic ‘rests’ sequestrated in the vicinity provides the substrate for various maldevelopmental lesions, craniopharyngiomas, and germ cell tumors. Surrounding tissues of glial, meningeal, and mesenchymal type also contribute an assortment of tumor types such that relatively few forms of intracranial neoplasia will escape representation in the sellar and parasellar regions.
