• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1130-1133
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• 2001

Athke's cleft cysts are believed to be derived from remnants of Rathke's pouch, a dorsal invagination of the stomodeum. Although these cysts are characteristically small, asymptomatic and intrasellar in location, they occasionally provoke symtoms with enlargement to compress surrounding structures. It is characteristically lined by stratified squamous epithelium with keratinization on a layer of connective tissue. The cells of the anterior pituitary lobe, from which pituitary adenomas develop, are also formed by the proliferation of the anterior wall of Rathke's pouch. Thus, Rathke's cleft cyst and pituitary adenomas are considered to have a common ancestry. We report a rare case in which the preoperative diagnosis was pituitary adenoma, but the pathologic diagnosis was a combination of a Rathke's cleft cyst and a coincidental pituitary adenoma.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.152-155
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• 2012

A Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC) is a benign pituitary cyst derived from the remnant of Rathke's pouch, and usually presents as an intrasellar lesion with varying degrees of suprasellar extension. However, to date, a description of a primary prepontine RCC with no intrasellar component has not been reported. The author describes an exceptional case of a symptomatic RCC located behind the sella turcica in a 41-year-old woman who presented with severe headache. The author also provides an embryological hypothesis of the development of an ectopic RCC, with a special emphasis on radiologic characteristics.