Case Report The treatment and follow-up for pituitary adenoma and concomitant rathke cleft cyst: a cases report and review of the literature

Pituitary adenoma (PA) concomitant with Rathke cleft cyst (RCC) is extremely rare. The risk of recurrence of both PA and RCC necessitates post-operative follow-up. Here we describe a 22-year-old woman was admitted for headache and hypopsia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a sellar mass. During surgery, a small RCC was incidentally found inside the PA. Both tumors were completely resected. Follow-up MRI 6 years later demonstrated a sellar lesion and a following surgery were performed, during which an RCC was validated without evidence of PA recurrence. This is the first report of the recurrence of PA concomitant with RCC 6 years after surgery, suggesting that PA and concomitant RCC requires periodical post-operative follow-up. For recurrent tumors, especially for symptomatic ones, a second surgery is needed. During the surgery, lesion should be removed as completely as possible, without damage of the normal pituitary.