Successful outcome after resection of liver metastasis arising from an extraadrenal retroperitoneal paraganglioma that appeared 9 years after surgical excision of the primary lesion

Abstract

A 54-year-old man underwent surgery for excision of a retroperitoneal tumor that measured 12 cm in diameter, and histopathological examination revealed the tumor was an extraadrenal retroperitoneal paraganglioma. He presented 9 years later with epigastric discomfort. Abdominal ultrasound showed a solitary liver tumor. The diagnosis, based on radiological workup, was metastatic paraganglioma. The tumor was surgically resected and the histological findings resembled those of the primary tumor. The patient has been followed up for 3 years and remains recurrence-free. Surgical resection is an effective treatment approach for primary and secondary paragangliomas, but the resectability of liver metastatic lesions is usually low, although complete resection with a wide surgical margin was possible in this patient. This case suggests that a good prognosis after the resection of hepatic metastasis depends not only on the curative resection of the metastatic lesion but also on the tumor characteristics, such as slow growth or low aggressiveness.