The sella turcica latin for turkish seat is a saddle shaped depression in the body of the sphenoid bone of the human skull and of the skulls of other hominids including chimpanzees orangutans and gorillas it serves as a cephalometric landmark the pituitary gland or hypophysis is located within the most inferior aspect of the sella turcica the hypophyseal fossa.
Floor view skull dorsunm salla.
Location of sella turcica in skull.
The dashed arrow points to the sella wall.
In the sphenoid bone the anterior boundary of the sella turcica is completed by two small eminences one on either side called the middle clinoid processes while the posterior boundary is formed by a square shaped plate of bone the dorsum sellae ending at.
Providing the proper place to hold and support the pituitary gland.
3 clinical anatomy of sella turcica.
The dorsum sellae is part of the sphenoid bone in the skull together with the basilar part of the occipital bone it forms the clivus.
B endoscopic view after removal of the posterior sphenoid base.
The dura is left intact and the sellotomy extends from carotid artery c to carotid artery in a lateral dimension and from the tuberculum sella ts superiorly to the floor of the sella inferiorly.
A normal sella turcica b oblique anterior wall c sella turcica bridge d double contour of floor e irregular dorsum sellae f pyramidal shape.
Functions of sella turcica.
The dorsum sellae is the square shaped process of the sphenoid bone it ascends superiorly from the posterior part of the sphenoid body to form the posterior wall of the sella turcica.
The sellar and parasellar regions comprise the sella turcica the pituitary gland and the adjoining soft tissues and bone.
The dorsum sellae forms the posterior wall of the sella turcica which houses the pituitary gland laterally it articulates with the petrous apex of the petrous part of the temporal bone.
Empty sella is the designation for intrasellar herniation of the meningeal space which results in a neuroanatomical picture in which the pituitary gland appears to be thinned and flattened against the sellar floor the bulk of the sellar space being filled with csf kaufman et al.
Ballooned sella with an undercutting anterior clinoid process unequal downward displacement of the floor double floor appearance craniopharyngioma elongated sella with short curved dorsum is characteristic but more often indistinguishable from the pituitary lesions.
The parasellar structures include the sphenoidal sinus and adjoining central skull base the paired cavernous sinuses and adjoining venous sinuses the cavernous and supraclinoid segments of the internal carotid arteries the circle of willis the optic nerves and chiasm.