GH-Producing Pituitary Adenoma and Concomitant Rathke’s Cleft Cyst: A Case Report and Short Review

Concomitant pituitary adenoma (PA) and Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC) are rare. In some cases, such PA is known to produce pituitary hormones. A 53-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of lacunar infarction in the left basal ganglia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) incidentally showed a suprasellar mass with radiographic features of RCC. When he consulted with a neurosurgical outpatient clinic, acromegaly was suspected based on his appearance. A diagnosis of growth hormone- (GH-) producing PA was confirmed from hormonal examinations and additional MRI. Retrospectively, initial MR images also showed intrasellar mass that is compatible with the diagnosis of PA other than suprasellar RCC. The patient underwent endonasal-endoscopic removal of the PA. Since we judged that the RCC of the patient was asymptomatic, only the PA was completely removed. The postoperative course of the patient was uneventful and GH levels gradually normalized. Only 40 cases of PA with concomitant RCC have been reported to date, including 13 cases of GH-producing PA. In those 13 cases, RCC tended to be located in the sella turcica, and suprasellar RCC like this case appears rare. In a few cases, concomitant RCCs were fenestrated, but GH levels normalized postoperatively as in the cases without RCC fenestration. If radiographic imaging shows typical RCC, and PA is not obvious at first glance, the possibility of concomitant PA still needs to be considered. In terms of treatment, removal of the RCC is not needed to achieve hormone normalization.