Abstract
Background Nonneoplastic cysts of brain are a diverse group of benign lesions with variable
etiopathogenesis. Due to different site and histogenesis, these lesions have wide
clinicopathologic spectrum.
Objective The study was performed to evaluate epidemiology and clinicopathologic spectrum of
nonneoplastic central nervous system (CNS) cysts highlighting the role of histopathology
in the diagnosis as well as to compare the data with other institution's data available
in literature.
Materials and Methods All nonneoplastic CNS cysts reported from January 2013 to June 2020 in the Department
of Pathology of Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur, were retrieved and reviewed.
The data were evaluated for age, site, cyst wall lining, nature of cyst contents,
and location (intracranial and spinal), using SPSS software version 20.0.
Results A total of 255 cases were reviewed with an incidence of 4.96% and an age range of
2 to 74 years with slight male preponderance. Among them there were 157, 34, 26, 24,
and 2 cases of epidermoid, arachnoid, dermoid, colloid, and glioependymal cysts, respectively,
and 1 case of perineural cyst. Infective cysts were much less common than noninfective
cysts, accounting for two cases of neurocysticercosis and hydatid cysts each. All
cyst types mainly presented with signs and symptoms of a mass lesion.
Conclusion Nonneoplastic cyst mainly presented like a CNS mass lesion with overlapping clinical
features, and image finding revealing the key role of histopathological analysis.
Epidermoids were the most common type of these cysts in the present series followed
by the arachnoid cysts.
Keywords
clinicopathologic spectrum - histopathology - nonneoplastic cysts of brain
