Rathke's cleft cyst as a cause of growth hormone deficiency and micropenis

Rathke's cleft cyst has rarely been reported in pediatric patients, and suc h cysts are usually found by chance, in 2-33% of routine necropsies, as the y have not interfered with pituitary function. In general, they are intrase llar with a single layer of ciliated cuboidal or columnar epithelium contai ning mucoid material. The age range in which symptomatic Rathke's cleft cys ts occur is between 30 and 60 years. This paper reports an 8.1-year-old boy presenting with growth hormone deficiency and micropenis attributable to h ypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH), implying altered pituitary function sinc e intrauterine life. At this age (before puberty) the diagnosis of HH can b e made by means of the LHRH agonist stimulation test, since conventional LH RH is not able to discriminate HH from a normal prepubertal child. To our k nowledge, this is the first case of micropenis caused by Rathke's cleft cys t interfering with gonadotropin and growth hormone secretion since intraute rine life.