Clinical value of classification in the treatment of children with suprasellar arachnoid cysts.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognostic effects of different subtypes of suprasellar arachnoid cysts (SAC) in children.

METHODS

Fifty patients with primary SAC who had undergone endoscopic treatment in our department between January 2010 and December 2020 were studied retrospectively. All patients underwent endoscopic treatment after diagnosis, including ventriculocystostomy (VC) in 23 cases and ventriculocystocisternostomy (VCC) in 27 cases. All patients were followed up regularly after the operation, including head computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Evans index (EI) and frontal and occipital horn ratio (FOHR) index were measured to assess changes in cyst volume and hydrocephalus. The prognosis was evaluated comprehensively on the data of the improvement of clinical symptoms, child growth and development correlation score, and reduction of cyst volume 12 months after surgery. According to the new classification of SAC, 50 cases of children were classified into three groups in which we compared the clinical characteristics of different subtypes of the three groups. Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of prognosis.

RESULTS

Completed success was achieved in 50 cases, including 31 cases with cyst volume reduction of more than 50% and 19 cases with cyst volume reduction of less than 50%. The median follow-up time was 55.3 months (22 ~ 113 months). According to the new classification criteria of SAC, there were 21 cases of SAC-1, 16 cases of SAC-2, and 13 cases of SAC-3. There were no statistically significant differences among the three groups in gender, birth weight, prenatal diagnosis, hydrocephalus, endocrine abnormalities, relief of postoperative symptoms, cyst wall texture, and surgical methods (P > 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference among the three groups in the change of the cyst volume and the maximum cyst diameter (P < 0.05), in which SAC-1 had the largest volume reduction, SAC-2 was more likely to cause endocrine symptoms and SAC-3 was inclined to lie in between. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that SAC classification and cyst wall texture were independent risk factors for the prognosis.

CONCLUSION

The clinical characteristics of different SAC subtypes are different, and SAC classification is one of the independent risk factors affecting prognosis.