CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2013; 8(04): 183-187
DOI: 10.4103/1793-5482.125662
CASE REPORT

Symptomatic Rathke's cleft cyst with a co-existing pituitary tumor; Brief review of the literature

Ranjith Babu
Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
,
Adam Back
Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
,
Jordan Komisarow
Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
,
Timothy Owens
Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
,
Thomas Cummings
1   Division of Pathology, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
,
Gavin Britz
Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
› Author Affiliations

Pituitary adenomas and Rathke's cleft cysts (RCCs) share a common embryological origin. Occasionally, these two lesions can present within the same patient. We present a case of a 39-year-old male who was found to have a large sellar lesion after complaints of persistent headaches and horizontal nystagmus. Surgical resection revealed components of a RCC co-existing with a pituitary adenoma. A brief review of the literature was performed revealing 38 cases of co-existing Rathke's cleft cysts and pituitary adenomas. Among the cases, the most common symptoms included headache and visual changes. Rathke's cleft cysts and pituitary adenomas are rarely found to co-exist, despite having common embryological origins. We review the existing literature, discuss the common embryology to these two lesions and describe a unique case from our institution of a co-existing Rathke's cleft cyst and pituitary adenoma.



Publication History

Article published online:
27 September 2022

© 2013. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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