The diagnosis and surgical treatment of intracranial arachnoid cysts.

Intracranial arachnoid cysts are becoming a more frequent finding as a result of the increased use of cranial computed tomography. We present 26 patients with such lesions treated surgically at the Mayo Clinic between 1970 and 1980. In children the commonest presenting symptom was cranial enlargement, whereas in adults headaches were most common. On examination, most patients were normal, although focal deficits related to the site of the lesion were not rare. Computed tomography scanning was the definitive study in essentially all the patients. Direct surgical excision was the preferred therapy in most patients. Complications included three subdural hygromas in children, one wound infection, one death from anterior spinal artery thrombosis, and one case of seizures post-operatively.