Autopsy findings of a craniopharyngioma with a natural course over 60 years.
BACKGROUND
We report the histologic manifestations in an autopsy case of craniopharyngioma with an unusually long treatment-free course.


METHODS
A 72-year-old woman with craniopharyngioma, in whom ateliosis due to the suprasellar tumor had been identified at the age of 10 years but had not been treated, was studied postmortem. She had not acquired secondary sex characteristics. At autopsy, a hard mass 2 cm in diameter was present in the suprasellar region and invaded the anterior floor of the third ventricle. Histologically, a large proportion of the mass was replaced by wet keratin, ossified tissue, dystrophic calcification, and fatty adipose tissue: these features indicate widespread degeneration of the tumor cells. Only a few residual cell nests of craniopharyngioma-composed of squamous cells lined with a single columnar cell layer-were observed at the peripheral portion of the mass. Conspicuous reactive astrocytosis with relatively high cellularity was evident in the brain tissue adjacent to the mass.


CONCLUSIONS
This case may represent a rare example of craniopharyngioma lacking spontaneous growth activity and consequently showing marked degeneration of the tumor cells.
Inenaga
Chikanori
C
Department of Pathology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Asahmachi, Niigata, Japan.
Kakita
Akiyoshi
A
Iwasaki
Yoichi
Y
Yamatani
Keiichi
K
Takahashi
Hitoshi
H
D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D003397:Craniopharyngioma / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*