HYPOTHALAMIC HAMARTOMA

Imaging

Imaging for optimized detection of hypothalamic hamartoma:

Coronal T2 fast-spin echo sequences with thin slices and no inter-slice gap through the hypothalamus, to visualize the hypothalamic hamartoma and its attachment.

Imaging characteristics of hypothalamic hamartoma:

• a mass, of grey matter signal intensity, in the region of the hypothalamus
• may be pedunculated, attached to the mammillary region, and if large may distort or incorporate the mammillary bodies, with the columns of the fornix displaced antero-laterally and with variable extension below the third ventricle
• may be 'pedunculated', attached to the tuber cinereum, projecting into the suprasellar cistern

Imaging of a hypothalamic hamartoma

The images below show a hypothalamic hamartoma, seen on axial and coronal T2-weighted imaging, evident as a mass with signal that is slightly brighter than that of the cortex, attached to the mamillary bodies, and displacing the columns of the fornix laterally.