Maturation of the sella turcica and parasellar region: Surgical relevance for anterior skull base approaches in pediatric patients.

Objective: Traditional and extended transnasal transsphenoidal approaches provide direct access to a variety of anterior skull base pathologies. Despite increased utilization of transnasal approaches in children, anatomic studies on pediatric skull base maturation are limited. We herein perform a surgically relevant morphometric analysis of the sella and parasellar regions during pediatric maturation.

Methods: Measurements of sellar length (SL), sellar depth (SDp), sellar diameter (SDm), interclinoid distance (ID), intercavernous distance (ICD), and the presence of sphenoid sinus pneumatization (SSP), and sphenoid sinus type (SST) were made on thin-cut CT scans from 60 patients (evenly grouped by ages 0-3, 4-7, 8-11 12-15, 16-18, and >18 years) for analysis. Data were analyzed by sex and age groups using t-tests and linear regression.

Results: Sella and parasellar parameters did not differ by sex. SL steadily increased from 8.5 ± 1.2 mm to 11.5 ± 1.6 mm throughout development. SDp and SDm increased from 6.0 ± 0.9 mm to 9.3 ± 1.4 mm and 9.0 ± 1.6 mm to 14.4 ± 1.8 mm during maturation, with significant interval growth from ages 16-18 to adult (p < 0.01). ID displayed significant growth from ages 0-3 to 4-7 (18.0 ± 2.4 mm to 20.7 ± 1.9 mm; p = 0.002) and ICD from ages 0-3 to 8-11 (12.0 ± 1.8 mm to 13.5 ± 2.1 mm; p < 0.001), without further significant interval growth. SSP was not seen in patients < 3, but was 100% by ages 8-11. SSTs progressed from conchal/presellar (60% at ages 4-7) to sellar/postsellar (80% at adulthood).

Conclusion: The sella and parasellar regions have varied growth patterns with development. Knowledge of the expected maturation of key anterior skull base structures may augment surgical planning in younger patients.