Ciliated and goblet cells in craniopharyngioma. Light and electron microscopic studies at surgery and autopsy.

A case of a suprasellar epithelial cyst in a 48-year-old man is reported. The cyst was lined with two different types of stratified epithelium: one was two to three or more layers of squamous cells with overlying ciliated columnar cells and goblet cells at the surface and the other was tyical stratified squamous epithelial cells. The tumor was neither a pure Rathke's cleft cyst nor a typical craniopharyngioma but was considered essentially to be a craniopharyngioma with ciliated columnar cells and goblet cells. Thus it might be considered a mixed form of these two tumors. This case indicates the close relationship between craniopharyngiomas and Rathke's cleft cysts.