Rare presentation of familial paraganglioma without evidence of mutation in the SDH, RET and VHL genes: towards further genetic heterogeneity

Metastatic Paraganglioma of the Spine With SDHB Mutation: Case Report and Review of the Literature

BACKGROUND

Paragangliomas (PGLs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors that can arise from any autonomic ganglion of the body. Most PGLs do not metastasize. Here, we present a rare case of metastatic PGL of the spine in a patient with a germline pathogenic succinate dehydrogenase subunit B (SDHB) mutation.

METHODS

In addition to a case report we provide a literature review of metastatic spinal PGL to highlight the importance of genetic testing and long-term surveillance of these patients.

RESULTS

A 45-year-old woman with history of spinal nerve root PGL, 17 years prior, presented with back pain of several months' duration. Imaging revealed multilevel lytic lesions throughout the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine as well as involvement of the right mandibular condyle and clavicle. Percutaneous biopsy of the L1 spinal lesion confirmed metastatic PGL and the patient underwent posterior tumor resection and instrumented fusion of T7-T11. Postoperatively the patient was found to have a pathogenic SDHB deletion.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with SDHx mutation, particularly SDHB, have increased risk of developing metastatic PGLs. Consequently, these individuals require long-term surveillance given the risk for developing new tumors or disease recurrence, even years to decades after primary tumor resection. Surgical management of spinal metastatic PGL involves correcting spinal instability, minimizing tumor burden, and alleviating epidural cord compression. In patients with metastatic PGL of the spine, genetic testing should be considered.

Long-term follow-up after en bloc resection and reconstruction of a solitary paraganglioma metastasis in the first lumbar vertebral body: a case report

Introduction

Paragangliomas are rare tumors that originate from the autonomic nervous system-associated paraganglia. They metastasize infrequently. Malignancy can only be demonstrated by the presence of chromaffin tissue at sites where it usually is not present, such as bone, lung or liver, or local recurrence after total resection of a primary mass. Paragangliomas within the central nervous system are usually intradural near the conus medullaris. The metastatic spread of a retroperitoneal paraganglioma to a vertebral body is extremely rare, and there are only a few cases reported in the literature.

Case presentation

We report the case of a 16-year-old Caucasian girl who had undergone resection of a retroperitoneal paraganglioma that measured 15 × 11.5 × 9.5 cm. After further staging, a solitary metastatic paraganglioma was detected in the first lumbar vertebral body. After initial chemotherapy, marginal en bloc resection and reconstruction were performed followed by radiotherapy. Histologic examination of the specimen revealed that the tumor cells did not show any response to preoperative chemotherapy, which is in line with a few other reports in the literature. Ten years after operative treatment, the patient is free of complaints, very satisfied with the result and without signs of local recurrence or distant metastases.

Conclusion

We recommend en bloc spondylectomy and local radiotherapy in the treatment of solitary spinal metastatic paragangliomas.