A suprasellar epidermoid cyst with symptoms of hypothalamic involvement: case report and a review of pathogenetic mechanisms.

A 38-year-old Caucasian male died following complications of a myocardial infarct. He had been obese and reportedly hyperphagic. At autopsy an 8-cm-in-diameter suprasellar epidermoid cyst was discovered to have destroyed much of his frontal lobe tissue. The histogenesis and classification of this large, clinically unsuspected lesion are discussed.