Records of all patients diagnosed as having an "empty" sella turcica at the University of Michigan Medical Center after 1972 were retrospectively reviewed. Nineteen patients satisfied the two criteria, absence of prior surgical or radiotherapeutic intervention and air within the sella turcica at pneumoencephalography. Associated clinical signs and symptoms were varied and nonspecific. Two patients had relative visual field deficits without increased intracranial pressure. Three patients had papilledema and were diagnosed as having had benign increased intracranial pressure. Increased intracranial pressure was not a consistent enough finding to be considered an etiology for the empty sella syndrome.