Ectopic recurrent craniopharyngioma of the frontal bone.

Journal of Neurosurgery, 2012

Abstract Ectopic recurrence of craniopharyngioma is a rare phenomenon after transcranial resection of the primary tumor.
The authors present a case of ectopic recurrent adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma of the frontal bone resected 16 years after initial transcranial resection of the primary tumor.
The lesion was first radiographically described 12 years after surgery and was adjacent to the osteosynthesis plate that had been implanted at the craniotomy site.
Only 50 cases of ectopic recurrent craniopharyngioma have been described to date, with the present case being the first one with recurrence located at the skull bone.
So far 2 mechanisms have been described: contamination with tumor cells alongside the surgical tract and spreading via CSF and the subarachnoid space.
The authors reviewed the literature, provided the largest collection of cases so far, and performed basic statistical analysis regarding ectopic recurrence.
Pediatric and adult patients as well as male and female ones are affected equally by this phenomenon.
Ectopic recurrence, although rare, should always be considered in a patient with a newly diagnosed intracranial lesion who has undergone transcranial craniopharyngioma resection before.
PMID: 22794322 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Full Text Sources
Review Postoperative intracranial seeding of craniopharyngiomas--report of three cases and review of the literature.