Fibrous Dysplasia of the Clivus

Abstract

Fibrous dysplasia (FD) of craniofacial structures is well documented, however, its involvement of the clivus is seldom described. We report a case of clival FD in a young man who presented with headache localized to the occipital area. The radiological studies revealed a monostotic disease confined to the clivus, with typical findings of hypointensity on magnetic resonance images and ground-glass density on computed tomography. The diagnosis of FD was confirmed on pathological examination of specimens taken through transsphenoidal surgery. The patient showed reduction of symptoms and no change of residual lesion on follow-up imaging taken 2.5 years later after surgery. This study includes clinical aspect, radiographic appearance, differential diagnosis and treatment strategy of this rare skull base lesion.