Clival simple bone cyst: Rare pathological entity (case report)

BACKGROUND: Clival cystic lesions are not frequently seen in neurosurgery. Cystic lesion in the clivus can be part of a neoplastic process such as chordoma, chondrosarcoma, plasmacytoma, or metastasis. Rare types of pure cystic clival lesions include simple bone cysts and arachnoid cysts, which are asymptomatic most of the time and do not cause symptoms until they reach a large size. CASE DESCRIPTION: This is a case report of a healthy 53-year-old male patient with a clival cystic lesion. The patient underwent surgical drainage and wall resection of the clival lesion with no postoperative complications. Intraoperative finding raised the possibility of the diagnosis of an arachnoid cyst. However, the pathology findings indicated a simple bone cyst. CONCLUSION: Simple bone cyst and arachnoid cyst in the clivus are rare, they should be considered in the diagnosis of clival cystic lesions.