CISTERNOGRAPHY COMBINED WITH LINEAR TOMOGRAPHY FOR VISUALIZATION OF THE PITUITARY GLAND IN HEALTHY DOGS A Comparison with Computed Tomography

Cisternography combined with linear tomography was performed in ten clinically healthy dogs (weighing 14-33 kg) to visualize the pituitary gland, and results were compared with the results from sagittal midline computed tomography (CT) in these dogs. With cisternography, the length of the pituitary gland of nine dogs ranged from 5.7 to 9.9 mm (mean ± SD, 7.9 ± 1.3), and the width from 5.4 to 8.7 mm (6.4 ± 1.0). With sagittal linear tomography following cisternography, the height of the pituitary gland of these nine dogs ranged from 4 to 6 mm (5.1 ± 0.7); and, with sagittal CT, it ranged from 4.3 to 6 mm (5.0 ± 0.6). In an 11-year-old female Greyhound, two small nodules were found at the periphery of the pituitary gland using cisternography but were not recognized on CT images. It is concluded that cisternography combined with linear tomography is a safe and accurate alternative for the visualization of the pituitary gland when CT is not available.