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Paragangliomas: A Case Series from Burdenko Center of Neurosurgery

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Abstract

Paragangliomas (PGLs), also known as chemodectomas or glomus tumors, are typically benign, slow-growing tumors arising from sympathetic nerve cells (chromaffin paraganglion cells) located along major blood vessels. Paragangliomas of the head and neck (HNPs) are very rare, representing only 0.01% of all head and neck tumors. At the same time, PGLs are the most frequent lesions of the middle ear and jugular foramen. Current treatment options for HNPs include surgical resection, endovascular embolization, conventionally fractionated external beam radiation therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), or a combination of these modalities. Surgery has traditionally been the preferred method of treatment. In practice, however, approximately 40–70% of patients are initially seen with unresectable tumors (van der Mey et al., 1992). That is, the surgical removal in these patients is obviously subtotal. Due to the highly vascular nature and relatively inaccessible anatomical location of HNPs, excision is often problematic and carries a considerable risk of morbidity and mortality to the patient, including cerebrospinal fluid leak, wound infection, pulmonary embolism, and lower cranial nerve deficits (Guss et al., 2011). Radiation-based therapies, including SRS, 3D conformal radiotherapy, and intensity-modulated radiation therapy, offer a similar chance of tumor control with lower risks of morbidity compared to surgery in patients with HNPs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Medical Research Center of Neurosurgery named after Burdenko, Moscow, Russia

    Svetlana V. Zolotova, Andrey V. Golanov, Natalia A. Antipina, Anastasia V. Barabanova & Konstantin V. Nikitin

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  1. Svetlana V. Zolotova
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  2. Andrey V. Golanov
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  3. Natalia A. Antipina
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  4. Anastasia V. Barabanova
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  5. Konstantin V. Nikitin
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Correspondence to Andrey V. Golanov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Alfredo Conti

  2. Scientific Director, AB Medica, Milano, Italy

    Pantaleo Romanelli

  3. Assistant Professor, Medical Physics Laboratory, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Evangelos Pantelis

  4. Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University Cancer Center, Stanford, CA, USA

    Scott G. Soltys

  5. Associate Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Radiosurgery Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Young Hyun Cho

  6. Department of Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Michael Lim

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Zolotova, S.V., Golanov, A.V., Antipina, N.A., Barabanova, A.V., Nikitin, K.V. (2020). Paragangliomas: A Case Series from Burdenko Center of Neurosurgery. In: Conti, A., Romanelli, P., Pantelis, E., Soltys, S., Cho, Y., Lim, M. (eds) CyberKnife NeuroRadiosurgery . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50668-1_33

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