A case of intrasellar craniopharyngioma with the symptoms of pituitary apoplexy

: Craniopharyngiomas account approximately for 2.5% of all intracranial neoplasms. They statistically most often arise in Japanese people (8%) and in children (9%). Despite their typical localization in suprasellar region and their close neighbourhood, 10-20% of them occupy intrasellar space, but only very few grow up as intrasellar cysts. Such localization predisposes to hypothalamus-pituitary-axis dysfunction more often, than other localizations. The symptoms of pituitary apoplexy caused by sudden, intrinsic haemorrhage of intrasellar craniopharyngioma are very rare, because the tumour grows very slowly and its vascular supply is usually poor. A very rare localization, extremely atypical course of disease, interesting intraoperative observations and good results of transsphenoidal tumour removal prompted the authors to present this case report.