Endocrine Abstracts

Craniopharyngiomas (CP) are congenital, benign, embryonic malformations which arise from ectoblastic remnants of Rathke’s pouch and are located in the (supra-)sellar region. Many patients show a reduced growth rate and an increased BMI early before the diagnosis of CP. However, it is unknown whether patients with CP present with increased head circumference before diagnosis. A cohort of 90 patients was screened for medical records of their developmental monitoring visits. In 83 patients, data on head circumferences was available. We observed that CP patients with hypothalamic involvement of their tumor tend to have an increased head circumference SDS before CP diagnosis. When comparing head circumference SDS before diagnosis at defined time points between birth and four years of age, all head circumferences were in the upper normal range. However, no statistically noticeable differences were found, comparing hypothalamic involvement and no hypothalamic involvement of the tumor. Congenital embryonic malformations such as CP located in the parasellar area can have impact on cerebrospinal fluid circulation and lead higher head circumferences due to hydrocephalus early before diagnosis. Our results show, that head circumference SDS could be an effective early-indicator for CP. A standardized procedure for head circumference measurements during developmental monitoring visits should be implemented in clinical care. We anticipate that our study is the starting point for prospective studies with larger sample size to assess the potential predictive value of head circumference measurements for an early CP diagnosis.