Retinociliary vein associated with a craniopharyngioma.

A 60-year-old white man had a diagnosis of craniopharyngioma made in 1945. Three operations for partial tumor removal were performed in 1951, 1957, and 1962. Ophthalmoscopy and fluorescein angiography revealed bilateral optic atrophy and a large retinociliary vein in the left eye. The present report is the only example of a retinociliary vein documented with photography and fluorescein angiography. It is not possible to ascertain whether this retinociliary vein is an acquired malformation or a congenital development anomaly. The extreme rarity of this entity, though, suggests that this retinociliary vein developed as a result of obstruction, by the craniopharyngioma, to the retinal venous outflow during early development.