Congenital craniopharyngioma diagnosed at 18 week gestation

Abstract

Brain tumors arising in the perinatal period are exceedingly rare and, of these, craniopharyngiomas comprise a small proportion. We report a case of craniopharyngioma diagnosed by prenatal ultrasound and confirmed by autopsy with histopathologic examination in a newborn delivered at 25 weeks 4 days gestation, which, to our knowledge, is the earliest diagnosed case of craniopharyngioma at 18 week gestation published in the English literature to date. Prenatal ultrasound imaging of a macrocephalic fetus detected a large irregular echogenic mass consistent with brain tumor at 18 weeks gestation. Gross autopsy evaluation following delivery at 25 weeks and 4 days revealed a solid and cystic mass that encompassed the entirety of the intracranial space without any grossly recognizable brain tissue. Histologic examination confirmed the diagnosis of adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma.

Keywords

• Brain tumors
• Craniopharyngioma
• Congenital
• Perinatal