CNS & pituitary tumors
Cysts
Enterogenous cyst
Author: Eman Abdelzaher, M.D., Ph.D.
Last author update: 1 February 2012
Last staff update: 19 November 2020
Copyright: 2002-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Endodermal (enterogenous) cyst
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Terminology | Sites | Radiology description | Case reports | Treatment | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Positive stains | Negative stains | Electron microscopy description | Differential diagnosisCite this page: Abdelzaher E. Enterogenous cyst. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/cnstumorenterogenouscyst.html. Accessed April 20th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Cyst lined by simple columnar epithelium (with or without cilia or mucus globules)
- Rare, benign; probably of malformative nature
Terminology
- Also called neurenteric, enteric, enterogenic, bronchogenic, respiratory cyst
Sites
- Usually intraspinal, rarely intracranial
- Favored sites: posterior fossa and spinal cord (usually anterior to cord, intradural, extramedullary)
- All ages are affected: infants, children and adults
Radiology description
- Like the closely related Rathke cleft cyst and colloid cyst, cyst is often bright on precontrast images
Case reports
- Prenatally diagnosed large intracranial cyst (J Neurosurg 2007;106:506)
- 35 year old woman with intramedullary cyst of spinal cord during pregnancy (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2001;71:528)
- 43 year old man with cystic mass at cerebellopontine angle (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2003;127:e45)
- 78 year old man with cyst in front of medulla (AJNR Am J Neuroradiology 2001;22:496)
Treatment
- Complete excision; occasionally is adherent to adjacent structures
- Recurrence may occur
Gross description
- Usually 1 cm or less, simple, thin walled, filled with opalescent mucinous material
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Columnar epithelium resting on collagen layer
- Goblet cells often present
- Variable cilia, may have squamous metaplasia
- More complex lesions replicate gastrointestinal or respiratory epithelium (Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol 2004;12:230)
Electron microscopy description
- Well developed stereocilia, distinct basal cells, thin basement membrane
Differential diagnosis
- Choroid plexus cyst: positive for vimentin, S100, synaptophysin, transthyretin
- Colloid cyst: in third ventricle
- Cystic tumors
- Glioependymal cyst: abuts onto gliotic neuropil, S100+, GFAP+
- Papillary endolymphatic sac tumor: at cerebellopontine angle, arises within bone, more complex architecture
