Craniopharyngioma in Aged Patients

Abstract

At Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, in the last fifteen years there have been 4 cases of craniopharyngioma in patients more than 50 years of age. The clinical picture was characterised by organic mental signs and the absence of suprasellar ealcifieation on regular x-ray examination. Ocular impairment was present in 3 of the 4 cases. In all 4 patients the tumor was loeated behind the optic chiasm, indieating that perhaps craniopharyngioma in aged patients is a different tumor from craniopharyngioma in young patients in whom it shows several specific characteristics. Air-contrast studies of the brain ventricles were the preoperative diagnostic method of choice. Confirmation of the diagnosis was made at operation in 3 patients, and at necropsy in the fourth.