Childhood craniopharyngioma: current controversies on management in diagnostics, treatment and follow-up.

Craniopharyngiomas are embryogenic malformations of the sellar region of low histological malignancy, thought to be derived from Rathke's pouch epithelium. With an overall incidence of 0.5-2.0 new cases per million of the population per year, 30-50% of all cases occur in childhood. Overall survival rates are high. However, quality of survival is substantially reduced in many survivors, owing to long-term sequelae, such as extreme obesity caused by hypothalamic tumor involvement, which occurs in up to 40% of all cases. The treatment of craniopharyngioma remains controversial. Radical surgical strategies are associated with poor outcome in craniopharyngioma with hypothalamic involvement.