Endocrine Abstracts

JOINT3495

Introduction: Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumours that arise from the glomus cells of the embryonic neural crest and can be found from the skull base to the pelvis. Carotid paragangliomas are rare, hypervascular, slow-growing neuroendocrine tumours. A preliminary diagnosis can be made based on the patient’s history, physical examination and imaging studies.Althoughresectionis a radical therapy for thistumor, completeresectionischallenging. Our objective is to report a rare case of carotid paraganglioma and describe its clinical presentation and management stategy.

Case report: A 15-year-old girl with a history of epilepsy and no family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia, Von Hippel-Lindau disease or pheochromocytoma presented with a 2-month history of laterocervical swelling with no signs of compression. On examination she had a laterocervical mass of 4 cm, firm, pulsatile, movable and indolent. She had no cervical lymphadenopathies or other palpable masses, and her nasopharyngeal endoscopy was unremarkable. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a left laterocervical mass centred on the carotid bifurcation, measuring 44*28*25 mm, enveloping the distal part of the left common carotid artery and the initial part of the left internal and external carotid arteries, suggestive of a paraganglioma type 3 of the Shamblin classification.The urinarycatecholamineswerenegative. The patient was referred for vascular surgery.

Discussion/Conclusion: Cervical paragangliomas are rare tumors that can occur sporadically or be familial. Hereditary forms are associated with genetic mutations. Diagnosis relies on CT, MRI, and functional imaging. Management involves a multidisciplinary approach, combining medical and surgical strategies. Surgical excision remains the only curative treatment, but it carries a risk of significant postoperative sequelae. Therefore, cooperationwith an otolaryngologist and vascular surgeon duringsurgeryisrecommended due to frequent damage to carotidvessels by carotidparagangliomas. Detection of the tumor in the early stages improvessurgicaltreatmentoutcomes and reduces the number of complications. Regular postoperativecheck-ups are necessary due to possible occurrences of multiple tumors. Disclosure of interest: none declared