Cisto aracnóide intracraniano: revisão de literatura

Objetivo: Revisao da literatura sobre os cistos aracnoides intracranianos – formacao e evolucao, dados epidemiologicos e clinicos, aspectos de neuroimagem e tratamento. Metodo: Realizamos pesquisa bibliografica utilizando como base de dados o MEDLINE (National Library of Medicine), abrangendo operiodo de 1980 a 2006. As palavras-chave utilizadas foram arachnoid cysts e intracranial cysts. Tambem realizamos pesquisa manual em jornais e revistas medicas. Artigos com dados clinicos incompletos nao foram incluidos no trabalho. Conclusoes: Embora haja um consenso sobre a intervencao cirurgica para os casos sintomaticos, a abordagem ideal ainda e controversa. Objective: To review the current literature on intracranial arachnoid cysts related to its formation,evolution, the epidemiological, clinical and neuro imaging aspects and also its treatment. Method:Bibliographic review was done using Medline data base from 1980 to 2006. The key words used were arachnoid cysts and intracranial cysts. Manual research on pertinent medical publications was also done.Articles with incomplete clinical data were not included. Conclusions: Although there is a consensus that surgery should be performed only in the symptomatic cases, there is no general agreement whichis the best surgical approach to deal with arachnoid cysts.