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Case Reports
. 2021 Oct 1;13(10):e18423.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.18423. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Vagal Paraganglioma: A Rare Finding in a 31-Year-Old Male

Yashfeen Ahmed  1 , Anum Arif  2 , Ahsin Manzoor Bhatti  2 , Shahbaz Ali Nasir  1 , Sabih Nofal  3 , Ali Hamza  1 , Usman Jamil Mughal  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Vagal Paraganglioma: A Rare Finding in a 31-Year-Old Male

Yashfeen Ahmed et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Vagal paraganglioma is a rare finding that develops from paraganglionic tissue found around the vagus nerve; it has a prevalence of 0.012% of all tumors. It is the third most common paraganglioma of the head and neck but still accounts for less than 5% of these tumors, and it has a well-established female prevalence. It is a difficult tumor to identify early based on its symptoms alone and only a thorough investigation can help solidify its diagnosis. In this report, we discuss a presentation of this phenomenon that is not only unique in its manifestation but also a very difficult diagnosis due to its deceptive presentation and multiple extensions. These masses need a good surgical regime to be removed properly and postoperative complications are very frequent in most of these cases.

Keywords: fever in vagus nerve paraganglioma; general and vascular surgery; glomus vagale; head and neck neoplasms; key words: carotid body tumor; paraganglioma; vagal paraganglioma; vagus nerve.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. MRI with contrast sagittal view (Figure 1A) and craniocaudal view (Figure 1B)
Blue arrow indicates a mass of 50 x 26 x 28 mm on the right side of the neck causing splaying of the internal carotid artery and external carotid artery MRI: magnetic resonance imaging
Figure 2
Figure 2. Intraoperative findings - image 1
The green arrow indicates the globular appearance of the tumor. The red arrow shows the common carotid artery (CCA). The blue arrow indicates the internal jugular vein (IJV). Note the splaying of the IJV and CCA by the tumor
Figure 3
Figure 3. Intraoperative findings - image 2
The green arrow indicates the lifted globular part of the tumor. The red arrow indicates the common carotid artery (CCA). The blue arrow indicates the internal jugular vein (IJV). The white arrow indicates the part of the tumor in between the CCA and IJV causing them to deviate apart. Note that no carotid bifurcation is visible in the neck upto the angle of mandible, indicating high carotid bifurcation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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