Carotid paragangliomas are usually slowly enlarging and painless lateral neck masses. These mostly benign lesions are recognized due to their typical location, vessel displacement and specific blood supply, features that are usually seen on different imaging modalities.
Surgery for carotid paraganglioma can be associated with immediate cerebrovascular complications or delayed neurological impairment.We are reporting the case of a 36-year-old man who presented with a painless mass on the right side of his neck 11 months after being treated for testicular cancer. After a fine-needle aspiration biopsy, he was diagnosed with a testicular cancer lymph node metastasis.
Neck US and fluorine [F-18]-fluorodeoxy-D-glucose (FDG) PET-CT showed no signs of hypervascularity or vessel displacement. The patient underwent a level II to V functional neck dissection.
During the procedure, suspicion of a carotid paraganglioma was raised and the tumour was carefully dissected from the walls of the carotid arteries with minimal blood loss and no cranial nerve dysfunction.The histology report revealed carotid paraganglioma with no metastasis in the rest of the lymph nodes. The patient’s history of testicular germ cell tumour led to a functional neck dissection during which a previously unrecognized carotid paraganglioma was removed.Surgery for carotid PG can be associated with complications that have major impact on quality of life.
A thorough assessment of the patient and neck mass must therefore be performed preoperatively in order to perform the surgical procedure under optimal conditions.
Author: Barbara PericZiva Pohar MarinsekBreda SkrbincMaja MusicIvana ZagarMarko Hocevar
Credits/Source: World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2014, 12:267
Published on: 2014-08-21
Tweet
News Provider: 7thSpace Interactive / EUPB Press Office
Social Bookmarking
RETWEET This! | Digg this! | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Furl | Add to Netscape | Add to Yahoo! | Rojo
There are no comments available. Be the first to write a comment.