Hypothalamic hamartoma: the role of surgery in a series of eight patients.

Hypothalamic hamartoma are rare lesions. We report a new series of eight patients treated for precocious puberty (six cases) or gelastic seizures (two cases). Surgical resection was total in four cases (three pediculated and one sessile). Precocious puberty was controlled by surgical treatment in all cases. Gelastic seizures were controlled by medical treatment, but the patients did not become seizure free. We observed no mortality and no endocrinological or visual morbidity. The fact that a vascular "rete mirabilis" was observed on the surface of the lesion in our surgical material is an argument favoring a vascular mechanism in precocious puberty. Coagulation of this vascular structure can help control precocious puberty. Our series confirms that the hypothalamic hamartoma can be surgically treated when patients fail to respond to medical treatment, when the length of the treatment cannot be tolerated by the chidren and their families, and when there are uncontrolled gelastic seizures