RESUMO Objetivo Avaliar a distância intercarotídea (DIC) de pacientes com macroadenoma de hipófise e comparar com controles saudáveis. Método Foram analisados retrospectivamente imagens de ressonância magnética com contraste de vinte pacientes consecutivos com diagnóstico de macroadenoma hipofisário não-funcionante, medidas as DIC em dois níveis diferentes (segmento petroso – DIC1 e segmento cavernoso horizontal – DIC2) e comparados com vinte controles pareados. Resultados Não houve diferença estatisticamente significativa da DIC1 média entre os grupos e subgrupos. Para a DIC2 houve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre os casos e controles. No entanto, não houve diferença significativa entre os doentes com adenomas menores e os controles. Entretanto, os pacientes com adenomas gigantes tiveram estatisticamente significativamente DIC2 que os controlos. Conclusão A DIC no segmento horizontal da carótida cavernoso, tende a ser mais larga em doentes com adenomas hipofisários gigantes do que em indivíduos saudáveis ou de pacientes com adenomas menores.

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the intercarotid distance (ICD) of patients with pituitary macroadenoma and compare to heatlhy controls. Method We retrospectively reviewed contrast-enhanced MRI images from twenty consecutive patients diagnosed with non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma, measured the ICD at two different levels (petrous segment – ICD1 and horizontal cavernous segment – ICD2) and compared to twenty paired controls. Results There was no statistically significant difference of the mean ICD1 between the groups and subgroups. For the ICD2 there was statistically significant difference between the case and controls. However, there was no significant difference between the patients with smaller adenomas and the controls. In contrast, the patients with giant adenomas showed statistically significantly higher ICD2 than the controls. Conclusion The ICD at the horizontal segment of the cavernous carotid tends to be wider in patients with giant pituitary adenomas than in healthy individuals or patients with smaller adenomas.