Pituitary stalk [Neurosurgery Wiki]

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
=====Pituitary stalk=====
{{ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Gray736.png}}The [[pituitary]] stalk (also known as the infundibular stalk or simply the [[infundibulum]]), is the connection between the [[hypothalamus]] and the posterior pituitary. 

The floor of the third ventricle is prolonged downward as a funnel-shaped recess, the [[infundibular recess]], into the infundibulum, and to the apex of the latter the hypophysis or pituitary is attached.

It passes through the dura mater of the [[diaphragma sellae]] as it carries axons from the magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the hypothalamus down to the posterior pituitary where they release their neurohypophysial hormones, [[oxytocin]] and [[vasopressin]], into the blood.

This connection is called the hypothalamo-hypophyseal tract or hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal tract.

====MRI====
{{::infundibulum.png?400|}}

[[Craniopharyngioma]]s frequently grow from remnants of the Rathke pouch, which is located on the cisternal surface of the [[hypothalamic region]]. These lesions can also extend elsewhere in the infundibulohypophyseal axis. 

These tumors can also grow from the [[infundibulum]] or [[tuber cinereum]] on the floor of the third ventricle, developing exclusively into the third ventricle.

====Radiosurgery====
Treating [[pituitary neuroendocrine tumor]]s in the infundibulum with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), achieving tumor volume control while preserving pituitary endocrine function and visual function, is challenging. 

Sokolowski et al., present a case of a recurrent remnant infundibular lesion treated with [[Gamma knife radiosurgery]] (GKS). The mass was treated with microsurgical resection twice, and the residual stalk lesion was treated with single-session SRS employing a margin dose of 15 Gy to the infundibulum. Five years after GKS, tumor regression persists without [[visual impairment]] or [[hypopituitarism]]. Radiosurgical doses of 30 [[Gy]] to the pituitary stalk may be tolerated by patients while maintaining endocrine function
((Sokolowski JD, Cohen-Inbar O, Sheehan JP. Radiosurgery for infundibulum
adenoma: stalk dose implications. Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2016
Sep;158(9):1697-700. doi: 10.1007/s00701-016-2894-1. Epub 2016 Jul 19. PubMed
PMID: 27435739.
)).