Sellar xanthogranuloma

We report the case of a 16-year-old girl with a history of idiopathic precocious puberty and normal results on pituitary imaging scan. Ten years later, a new cranial magnetic resonance imaging scan was performed due to worsening of episodes resembling Horton's headache and a lesion suggestive of pituitary bleeding was detected. The headaches diminished with glucocorticoid administration but a severe complication, steroid psychosis, occurred. Surgical treatment and pathological study of the lesion led to the differential diagnosis between craniopharyngyoma and xanthogranuloma of the sella turcica. The clinical progression of the tumor (not visualized 10 years previously), together with preservation of pituitary and visual function both before and after surgery, gross total removal of the tumor (difficult to achieve with craniopharyngioma) and the absence of recurrence provide strong support for the diagnosis of xanthogranuloma of the sella turcica.