Rathke’s fissure cyst is a fluid-filled cyst in the pituitary gland that can cause eye problems, headaches, and pituitary problems. Surgery is required for those who experience health problems, and the removal operation is usually performed through the nose. The cyst can recur in about 10% of surgical patients.
Rathke’s fissure cyst (RCC) is a fluid-filled cyst in the pituitary gland. The cyst forms in the cleft area left over from embryonic development. Although Rathke’s cleft cyst isn’t normally dangerous, the condition can sometimes cause eye problems, pituitary problems, or headaches.
When a baby is formed in the womb from an embryo, on the 24th day of life, it has a sac where the pituitary gland of the brain will be located. This bag is called a Rathke bag. In most people, the sac closes when the brain is fully developed, but sometimes the sac doesn’t close completely and remains as a slit in the pituitary gland. This is the Rathke fissure.
In the case of a Rathke’s fissure cyst, the fissure enlarges and fills with fluid. The proliferation of new cells is benign, and people with the condition are not at risk of spreading the cancer. For most people, the cyst doesn’t cause any problems.
Those people who have health problems from a Rathke cleft cyst, however, may require surgery. The effects of a cyst can cause deterioration in vision, headaches, and even a loss of function of the pituitary gland as a whole. The surgeon typically aims to remove all of the contents of the cyst but leaves the wall cells in place.
This is because these cells may have a functional use in the pituitary. The surgeon can usually perform the removal operation through the nose instead of cutting into the skin. Some cases, however, are present in an area of the pituitary that the surgeon cannot reach from the nose, and for these patients, the surgeon must cut into the skull to get to the cyst.
In about nine out of ten people, the operation succeeds in removing all of the contents of the cyst. Once the cyst has been emptied, many of the symptoms may disappear. In about ten percent of surgical patients, however, the cyst can recur within the next decade. Rathke’s cleft cyst removals are relatively common and make up about ten percent of all pituitary excisions.
Doctors often first find cysts when a patient undergoes medical imaging scans. Although cysts are relatively harmless, the pituitary gland can have other cyst-like diseases, such as adenoma, a benign tumor, that look similar on the scan. Most often, scans identify cysts in adults, but they can also be present in the pituitary glands of children.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
