Any neurosurgeon can’t avoid the tumor recurrence within the treatment of
craniopharyngiomas. In this chapter, we focused on the description of the clinical
manifestation, surgical strategy and prognosis of recurrent CP. Especially, the growth
pattern of recurrent tumor as compared to the primary morphological features was
emphasized and discussed. The influences of the first surgery or treatment strategy
(pallilate or radical) were proposed based on the clinical casese analysis. As our
opinion, the recurrent CP can be divided into 1) Intrasellar recurrence of Infradiaphgragmatic
tumor, and 2) Suprasellar infundibulo-tuberal recurrence.
Correspondingly, the different treatment strategies were also summarized. We thought
for intrasellar recurrent, more radical surgery should be taken. While for the
infundibulo-tuberal recurrence casued by palliative first surgery, more radical surgery
was still the first choise. However, if radical total removal was selected in the first
surgery, the repeated operation must be paid more attention.
Keywords: Craniopharyngioma, Surgical treatment, Tumor recurrent.
