Romania
Case Report
Malignant Paraganglioma; a Story of a Long Time Survival
Author(s): Ioana Vasiliu, Bogdan Hancearuc, Dan Iliescu, Cipriana Ștefănescu, Radu Popa, Delia Ciobanu, Letiţia Leuştean, Voichita Mogoș and Carmen VulpoiIoana Vasiliu, Bogdan Hancearuc, Dan Iliescu, Cipriana Ștefănescu, Radu Popa, Delia Ciobanu, Letiţia Leuştean, Voichita Mogoș and Carmen Vulpoi
Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma are catecholamine secreting tumors. Malignancy is uncommon - approximately 10% for pheochromocytoma and 20% for paraganglyoma. Surgery, when possible, is the first line treatment. Prognosis is poor because of a frequent local recurrence and/or metastases and the lack of specific chemotherapeutic agents. We report the case of a 60 years old man who was hospitalized at the age of 48 for episodes of paroxystic hypertension with spells. The high levels of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), more than 50 mg/24h at 3 determinations, confirmed the excess of catecholamine, but the CT scan failed to reveal the tumor. The iodine-131- meta-iodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG) scintigraphy showed the presence of a 1.5 cm nodule in the left abdominal paraaortic region. The patient refused surgery and had a satisfactory evolution with antihypertensiv.. Read More»
Journal of Surgery received 288 citations as per Google Scholar report