2017 Volume 151 Pages 70-71
A 51-year-old male was referred to us with a tumor in the left neck that had been found incidentally on MRI of the cervical spine. Physical examination revealed Horner syndrome on the left side. We considered the possible diagnosis of cervical sympathetic chain schwannoma; however, fine needle aspiration and PET-CT findings led to the suspicion of malignancy. We resected the tumor under general anesthesia. After the operation, the patient developed transient left vagus nerve palsy. Histopathology revealed the diagnosis of malignant paraganglioma with lymph node metastasis.
Sympathetic paragangliomas are exceedingly rare tumors of the head and neck and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of tumors suspected to arise from the sympathetic chain. Malignant paragangliomas are extremely rare, and there is as yet no established treatment.
