ABSTRACT
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the morphology of the sella turcica and measure its size in cleft and non-cleft subjects
Material and Methods: Cone-beam computed tomography [CBCT] images of 54 individuals [29 males; 25 females] with cleft and 85 [22 males; 63 females] without cleft were used for this study. Syndromic patients with cleft [s] were not included because of possible additional en-docrinological and/or morphological disorders. Linear measurements included length, depth, and diameter. The shape of the sella turcica was analyzed in the cleft and noncleft groups. An independent f test was conducted to evaluate differences between genders and groups. One-way ANOVA was used to compare age groups
Results: The length [p < 0.001] of the sella turcica was smaller in noncleft subjects than in cleft subjects. Diameter [p = 0.014] and depth [p = 0.005] showed as constantly increasing from an age <15 to >25 years in the overall assessment. The distribution of the shape of the sella turcica differed significantly between groups [p < 0.001]
Conclusions: In this study, CBCT was used to assess the morphology of the sella turcica. A majority of the subjects with cleft had a flattened sella turcica compared to that of the control group. A shorter length of the sella turcica was more evident in the cleft subjects than in the control group