Craniopharyngioma: a personal (Boston) experience.

BACKGROUND

The author reports his experience with 79 craniopharyngiomas operated since 1988. The review demonstrates that the biological behavior of these tumors is extremely variable, and that surgical management requires resourcefulness, judgement, and flexibility in the operating room.

RESULTS

Tumors will recur after total resection (15% in this series) and after subtotal resection and radiation therapy (22%) and adjuvant treatments of all types, and no treatment guarantees a cure.

CONCLUSION

The invasiveness of the tumor leads to difficult-to-treat long-term complications, particularly obesity and behavior disturbances. An extremely long-term follow-up of up to 20 years is necessary in many patients in order to determine the ultimate outcome of treatment.