Abstract
Paraganglioma of the mediastinum is a relatively rare disease. We present here a patient with primary mediastinal paraganglioma who received combination treatments. The patient was a 56-year-old women who consulted aphysician for a feeling of stiffness in the chest and cough. The physician suspected mediastinal tumor and referred her to our hospital. Chest CT revealed the presence of a hypervascular lesion, extending from the middle to the anterior mediastinum, about 7× 6 cm in size. Tumor biopsy revealed that the lesion was a paraganglioma . In view of the anatomical position, radiotherapy was selected in order to reduce the size of the tumor . When the tumor shrank in size, tumor artery embolization with insertion of platinum coils was performed . Subsequently, surgical resection was attempted, but it was found difficult to remove the lesion because of its highly vascular wall. Notwithstanding the fact that the possibility of malignancy could not be excluded based on the clinical findings and complete resection was attempted, completeresection of the tumor was unsuccessful . However, histopathological examination revealed no evidence of malignancy, and a final diagnosis of paraganglioma was made . Since surgical removal is the only established method of treatment for a paraganglioma, we propose to increased tumor and metastasis follow up this patient.
