[Heart arrest in excision of large craniopharyngiomas: two cases with successful resuscitation--pathogenic considerations].

A reversible cardiac arrest with successful resuscitation/cardiac massage occurred in two female patients in the context of the relatively radical extirpation of large mainly solid craniopharyngiomas with supraretrosellar and retrochiasmatic extension. Clinical (including ECG) and pathological anatomical investigations (especially after subarachnoid hemorrhages) and the results of animal experiments indicate that the cardiac arrest was caused by an acute functional disturbance in the dorsocaudal hypothalamus. In particular, the coincidence of hemorrhages/ischemia in the hypothalamus and subendocardially as well as the pronounced elevation of catecholamines observed by some authors is noteworthy.