Rathke's cleft cyst with xanthogranulomatous change--case report.

A 58-year-old man presented with a rare case of Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC) manifesting as headache and visual disturbance. Goldman's perimeter showed he had bitemporal hemianopia. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a solid intrasellar lesion. He underwent surgery via a right pterional approach. The lesion was red, solid, and fibrous. Histological examination revealed a few columnar epithelial cells with poor cilia in a xanthogranulomatous lesion. Only 13 cases of RCC with granulomatous change have been diagnosed by pathological examination, including 4 xanthogranulomatous cases. Xanthogranuloma of the sellar region is relatively rare. The etiology is still unknown. We speculate that xanthogranulomas of the sellar region may be caused by reaction to the presence of RCC.