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Case Reports
. 2017 May 25:82:283-286.
doi: 10.12659/PJR.899633. eCollection 2017.

Retroperitoneal Ganglioneuroma Mimicking a Kidney Tumor. Case Report

Agnieszka Dąbrowska-Thing  1 , Wojciech Rogowski  2 , Ryszard Pacho  3 , Ewa Nawrocka-Laskus  1 , Żaneta Nitek  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Retroperitoneal Ganglioneuroma Mimicking a Kidney Tumor. Case Report

Agnieszka Dąbrowska-Thing et al. Pol J Radiol. .

Abstract

Background: Ganglioneuroma (GN) is a rare benign tumor arising from the neural crest cells. The reported incidence of GN is one per million population. As a primary retroperitoneal tumor, it constitutes only a small percentage of 0.72 to 1.6%. GN can arise de novo or as a result of maturation of a neuroblastoma either spontaneously or after chemotherapy. The most common location is the posterior paraspinal mediastinum, retroperitoneum, neck and adrenal gland. However, GN can potentially occur anywhere along the peripheral autonomic ganglion sites. Most ganglioneuromas are asymptomatic and found incidentally.

Case report: We present a case of retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma that mimicked renal mass on imaging. The tumor was incidentally discovered during an abdominal ultrasound examination 43-year-old male patient without clinical symptoms. Complete surgical resection was subsequently performed and histopathological examination of the retroperitoneal mass revealed GN.

Conclusions: Retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma is a rare bening tumor, generally asymptomatic, which grows slowly, and appears large when it is identified. Preoperative diagnosis can be challenging, particularly in asymptomatic case. Histopathological examination is currently the mainstay of diagnosis. In the case presented herein GN stricktly adjoined to the left kidney mimicking renal mass.

Keywords: Ganglioneuroma; Kidney Neoplasms; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Retroperitoneal Space.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sagittal abdominal ultrasonography revealed a well defined, round, hypoechoic, slightly heterogeneous solid mass, 9 cm in diameter, adjacent to the upper pole of left kidney.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Abdominal CT with contrast. Coronal multiplanar reconstructed CT image. Unenhanced CT scan of the abdomen shows a well defined, hypodense, homogeneous mass with density of 20HU.Unenhanced CT scan shows homogeneous.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CT-delayed phase acquired 10 min after contrast injection. Linear areas of mild contrast enhancement up to 30 HU were observed within the mass.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Coronal T1-weighted image shows a homogenous mass with homogeneously low signal intensity.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Coronal T2-weighted image shows heterogeneously intermediate signal in the lesion.
Figure 6
Figure 6
T1-weighted image, dynamic sequences with contrast enhancement. Interspersed areas with weak contrast enhancement were visualized within the mass.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Macroscopic picture of the specimen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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