Rathke's cleft cyst as a cause of growth hormone deficiency and micropenis

Rathke's cleft cyst has rarely been reported in pediatric patients, and such cysts are usually found by chance, in 2-33% of routine necropsies, as they have not interfered with pituitary function. In general, they are intrasellar with a single layer of ciliated cuboidal or columnar epithelium c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child's nervous system 1999-05, Vol.15 (5), p.271-273
Main Authors: SETIAN, N, AGUIAR, C. H, GALVAO, J. A, CRIVELLARO, C. E, DICHTCHEKENIAN, V, DAMIANI, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Craniopharyngioma - complications
Craniopharyngioma - diagnosis
Endocrinopathies
Fetal Diseases - etiology
Gonadotropins, Pituitary - deficiency
Growth Disorders - etiology
Human Growth Hormone - deficiency
Humans
Hypogonadism - embryology
Hypogonadism - etiology
Hypopituitarism - etiology
Hypothalamus. Hypophysis. Epiphysis (diseases)
Male
Medical sciences
Neurology
Non tumoral diseases. Target tissue resistance. Benign neoplasms
Pituitary Neoplasms - complications
Pituitary Neoplasms - diagnosis
Tropical medicine
Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses
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Summary:Rathke's cleft cyst has rarely been reported in pediatric patients, and such cysts are usually found by chance, in 2-33% of routine necropsies, as they have not interfered with pituitary function. In general, they are intrasellar with a single layer of ciliated cuboidal or columnar epithelium containing mucoid material. The age range in which symptomatic Rathke's cleft cysts occur is between 30 and 60 years. This paper reports an 8.1-year-old boy presenting with growth hormone deficiency and micropenis attributable to hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH), implying altered pituitary function since intrauterine life. At this age (before puberty) the diagnosis of HH can be made by means of the LHRH agonist stimulation test, since conventional LHRH is not able to discriminate HH from a normal prepubertal child. To our knowledge, this is the first case of micropenis caused by Rathke's cleft cyst interfering with gonadotropin and growth hormone secretion since intrauterine life.
ISSN:0256-7040
1433-0350
DOI:10.1007/s003810050391