CISTI ARACNOIDEE DELLA REGIONE PINEALE ED EPILESSIA: PRESENTAZIONE DI DUE CASI

Since the introduction of CT scan, intracranial arachnoid cysts are more frequently identified. Their relation, however, with clinical symptomatology remains often indetermined. In the present study we report two cases of arachnoid cyst located at the region of the great vein of Galen. The first child presented partial motor seizures and poor body development with partial GH deficit and hypothalamic hypothyroidism. The second case had 'infantile spasms' and a severe psychomotor retardation. In the first case, the surgical removal of the lesion, performed when the patient was 18 months old, was followed by the disappearance of the seizures and by the improvement of the growth rate. In the second child, the surgery, at the age of 10 months, was ineffective on the seizure disorder. These two cases, beside confirming the difficulties in foreseeing the surgical outcome in this kind of pathology, seem to indicate that the type of epilepsy may play a role in the surgical indication.