Preliminary study of the clinical features and pituitary dysfunction in patients with Rathke′s cleft cysts

Objective: To investigate the clinical features and pituitary dysfunction in patients with Rathke's cleft cyst（RCC）.Methods: A retrospective study of 65 patients with RCC diagnosed and treated in our hospital between 1998 and 2006 was conducted.Results: The RCC was more often seen in female（F:M=1∶3.4） and misdiagnosed before operation.Most of the patients with RCC had various degrees of pituitary dysfunction.Headache and visual disturbance were the common clinical presentations in patients with RCC.The plain scanning of MRI of the most cysts showed hypointense or evenintense or hyperintense on T1-weighted imaging while hyperintense on T2-weighted imaging.Secondary hypogonadotrophin was the most prevalent abnormalities,and the most prevalent symptoms in male RCC patients were impotence or diminished libido and in female were menstrual disorder and galactorrhea.The panhypopituitarism was also appeared in few patients with RCC.Conclusion: Rathke's cleft cysts is a rare pathology with a wide spectrum of clinical and radiological features.The incidence of endocrinological dysfunction in patients with RCC is higher than suspected.The patients can benefit from operation and more attention should be paid to the new onset of pituitary dysfunction.All the patients need to undergo systematic endocrinological evaluations before and after operation.