Head and Neck Paragangliomas in Von Hippel-Lindau Disease and ...
Head and Neck Paragangliomas in Von Hippel-Lindau Disease and ...
Head and Neck Paragangliomas in Von Hippel-Lindau Disease and ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
eceptor sc<strong>in</strong>tigraphy revealed a hotspot near the left carotid artery, <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g a paraganglioma. No<br />
hypertension or <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> catecholam<strong>in</strong>es was observed. The removed 2.5 cm tumor was<br />
histopathologically a paraganglioma. At age 33, there was no recurrence, nor did the patient have other<br />
tumors. Interest<strong>in</strong>gly, the VHL disease had a heterogeneous presentation <strong>in</strong> the family, with bilateral<br />
pheochromocytomas <strong>and</strong> clear cell renal carc<strong>in</strong>oma as the <strong>in</strong>itial presentation <strong>in</strong> the father. In addition,<br />
the patient´s son underwent a unilateral adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma at age of 7.<br />
Case 5<br />
A 37-year old female noticed a mass at the left side of her neck. MRI disclosed a 3 cm carotid body<br />
tumor. The mass was removed, <strong>and</strong> histopathology revealed a paraganglioma. At age 50, the patient<br />
was operated for a left adrenal pheochromocytoma. Cl<strong>in</strong>ical screen<strong>in</strong>g for VHL showed asymptomatic<br />
ret<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong> sp<strong>in</strong>al hemangioblastomas. Her mother suffered from bl<strong>in</strong>dness of one eye potentially due<br />
to ret<strong>in</strong>al angiomatosis <strong>and</strong> was operated for a left adrenal pheochromocytoma. Her uncle died due to<br />
renal cell carc<strong>in</strong>oma <strong>and</strong> had sp<strong>in</strong>al hemangioblastomas. Molecular genetic analysis revealed the<br />
mutation VHL p.Arg107His. All her three sons are also carriers, one of whom was operated for a right<br />
adrenal pheochromocytoma at age 24 <strong>and</strong> a left adrenal pheochromocytoma at age 32. Screen<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
the 27-year old son revealed asymptomatic ret<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong> sp<strong>in</strong>al hemangioblastomas.<br />
Case 6<br />
A 42-year old male with a history of thyroidectomy for medullary thyroid carc<strong>in</strong>oma <strong>and</strong> removal of<br />
an adrenal cortical adenoma (not pheochromocytoma) presented with chronic headaches, t<strong>in</strong>nitus <strong>and</strong><br />
progressive hear<strong>in</strong>g loss. Diagnostic whole-body work-up revealed a 4 cm jugular paraganglioma with<br />
partial destruction of the labyr<strong>in</strong>th <strong>and</strong> without further tumor manifestations. The jugular tumor was<br />
treated with selective arterial embolization <strong>and</strong> stereotactic external-beam radiation. Dur<strong>in</strong>g follow-up,<br />
new metastases from the medullary thyroid carc<strong>in</strong>oma were diagnosed <strong>and</strong> the patient was transferred<br />
for systemic radio-peptide treatment with DOTATOC. Both malignancies showed dist<strong>in</strong>ct radiotracer<br />
uptake <strong>and</strong> the treatment resulted <strong>in</strong> partial response. Molecular genetic analysis revealed a<br />
p.Cys620Arg RET mutation.<br />
11