Jd. Carpeno et al., INTRAABDOMINAL PARAGANGLIOMA - CLINICAL, FUNCTIONAL, STRUCTURAL, AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF AN EXCEPTIONAL CASE, Revista Clinica Espanola, 193(3), 1993, pp. 127-130
Paragangliomas are tumors, derived from paraganglionar system, able to
synthesize and to liberate substances with neuroregulatory activity.
They are rare, mainly in the neck located, difficult to anatomophatolo
gic diagnose, and of poor prognosis. They may present as space-occupay
ing lesions or as secondary syndromes due to the liberation of biologi
cally active substances. Whenever it is possible, surgical excision is
the treatment of choice. Nor chemotherapy, nor immunomodulators, like
alpha-2b-interferon, have provided satisfactory results. A 57 year-ol
d man, with a non-surgical paraganglioma characterized by abdominal ma
ss associated with liver and bone metastasis, is presented. The rarity
of the intra-abdominal presentation, the image study findings, the hi
stophatological and immunohistochemical examinations, and the evolutio
n after alpha-2b-interferon therapy are analyzed.