Paragangliomas

Abstract

Eleven Chinese patients with paragangliomas were studied to evaluate the clinicopath ological features in detail. Their age ranged from 19 to 68 years with a mean of 41.7 years. Carotid body paragangliomas were the most common, followed by jugulotym panic paragangliomas. The patients with carotid body tumors were younger than the other patients in the group (eg, those with retroperitoneal paragangliomas). Retroperi toneum tumors were typically larger (the largest one was 8 cm in diameter), while tumors in the middle ears were smaller (0.5 to 1 cm in diameter). All the paraganglio mas were tested by a panel of panneuroendocrine markers (neuron-specific enolase, synaptophysin, and chromogranin), and they all stained strongly with synaptophysin. Thus, synaptophysin was shown to be a useful neuroendocrine marker for paraganglio mas. Int J Surg Pathol 1 (1):111-116, 1993