The Empty Sella and the Sellar Arachnoidal Cyst

Abstract

Busch first used the term empty sella in 1951. This was follwed by the classification into primary empty sella, due to a congenitally deficient sella diaphragm and secondary empty sella, which refers to those in which extension of the subarachnoid space into the sella is caused by operative procedures or radiation (Tindall and Barrow 1986; Bonneville et al. 1986). When the cases referred to the Neurosurgical Department at the University of Giessen during a 6 year period were studied, it was found that while this subdivision is still useful, there are pathological features termed empty sella which do not fit into these classical categories.