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Case report: Intra-renal paraganglioma masquerading as a renal cyst

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Abstract

A case is reported in which a 46-year-oldnormotensive male patient presented with largeright-sided painless abdominal mass. Onsonography there was a large cyst in the lowerpole of right kidney. Intravenous urographyshowed distortion of pelvicollecting system and medial shift of upper right ureter.Exploration revealed a cystic mass (18 × 15 cm) located in lower pole of right kidney. Itcontained brownish fluid and because of suspicion of malignancy radical nephrectomy wascarried out. Histological examination showed the cystic mass to be adrenal tissueinfiltrated by neoplastic cells. Characteristicorganoid nests of malignant cells (``Zellaballen'' were present. Cells stained positively for chromogranin, neurone specific enolase (NSE),neurofilament, and synaptophysin. Sustentacular cells showed positive reaction toS-100 protein. No further treatment was offered. Patient remains well at 30 monthsfollow-up. On medline search there is record of three cases of intra-renal paraganglioma inEnglish literature and the present case appears to be the fourth one.

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Correspondence to M. Rafique.

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Rafique, M., Bhutta, R. & Muzzafar, S. Case report: Intra-renal paraganglioma masquerading as a renal cyst. Int Urol Nephrol 35, 475–478 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:UROL.0000025630.11610.38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:UROL.0000025630.11610.38

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