Angiographic Visualization of the Posterior Pituitary and Clinical Stress

Although the posterior pituitary is rarely identifiable in the frontal projection, the gland may occasionally be visualized on the lateral view of carotid arteriograms, generally under conditions of clinical stress; otherwise, the posterior pituitary generally appears as a homogeneous stain which is not always distinguishable from parasellar sinuses. The authors believe this to be the first report of visualization of the posterior pituitary at ordinary angiography. The normal anatomy of the posterior pituitary is described, including a comparison between functional physiology and static postmortem descriptions.