title: Paragangliomas of head and neck - A surgical challenge.
abstract: Paragangliomas of the head and neck region are rare and predominantly asymptomatic tumors. These neoplasms arise from widely distributed paraganglionic cells, which originate from both mesodermal elements of third branchial arch and the neural crest residues. Despite the rare occurrence of paragangliomas, problems encountered in their diagnosis, unclear malignancy and treatment ensure that they still remain in the focus of head and neck surgeons. This is a retrospective study of the medical records of patients treated in the ENT Department of the 5th Military Hospital in Krakow during the period 2010-2014. All the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative data were carefully analyzed for each patient. Thirteen patients (16 tumors) were treated during the study period. All the patients with a pre-operative suspicion of paraganglioma underwent computed tomography angiography. The whole cohort of patients was treated surgically. Paraganglioma should be always considered in the differential diagnosis for painless neck masses. These tumors require thorough radiological pre-operative evaluation and skilled operative technique. Surgical treatment occurs to provide good cure rates with minimal recurrence and morbidity rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (Head: P. Dobosz), 5th Military Hospital with Polyclinic, Wroclawska 1-3, 30-901 Krakow, Poland; Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika 15A, 31-501 Kraków, Poland. Electronic address: malec.katarzyna@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Malec
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (Head: P. Dobosz), 5th Military Hospital with Polyclinic, Wroclawska 1-3, 30-901 Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cenda
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Skawinska 8, 31-066 Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brzewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (Head: P. Dobosz), 5th Military Hospital with Polyclinic, Wroclawska 1-3, 30-901 Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuchta
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (Head: P. Dobosz), 5th Military Hospital with Polyclinic, Wroclawska 1-3, 30-901 Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dobosz
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (Head: P. Dobosz), 5th Military Hospital with Polyclinic, Wroclawska 1-3, 30-901 Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Modrzejewski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000072226:Computed Tomography Angiography; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010235:Paraganglioma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Carotid body tumor; Neuroendocrine tumor; Paraganglioma; Pheochromocytoma; Shamblin classification