CNS paraganglioma: 15-year experience in a tertiary care hospital with literature review

Abstract

Paraganglioma that involves the CNS may mimic clinico-radiologically many other commoner entities. The current study presents a wide view of the clinical, radiological, and histomorphological spectrum along with rare associations that can occur concurrently with this lesion. The most common site of infliction in CNS is the spine and, in the current series, involvement of the lumbar spine was most frequent. Both clinical and radiological features point towards other more common differentials, including neurofibroma/schwannoma and ependymoma. Some studies suggest rich vascularity (cap sign) and salt pepper appearance in T2-weighted images to serve as soft pointers towards diagnosing it on magnetic resonance imaging, however, in our series we did not encounter the same.