T2 mapping for evaluating consistency of pituitary macroadenomas: a preliminary study

Motivation: Preoperative evaluation of pituitary adenoma (PA) consistency is crucial for surgical strategy, but previous studies using conventional T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) have yielded controversial results regarding their ability to assess tumor consistency. Goal(s): To evaluate the ability of the T2-mapping to predict the consistency of PAs. Approach: We conducted accelerated T2 mapping on 25 patients with PAs, analyzing T2 relaxation times and comparing T2 values between soft and hard tumors. Results: T2 mapping showed a significant difference in T2 relaxation times between hard and soft PAs (P=0.005), while T2WI showed no significant difference (P=0.440), indicating that T2 mapping provides valuable information about tumor consistency. Impact: Accelerated T2 mapping provides a reliable, noninvasive method to predict pituitary adenoma consistency preoperatively, outperforming T2W imaging. This enhances surgical planning and potentially improves patient outcomes through more accurate assessment of tumor characteristics within a feasible clinical workflow.