Inferior laryngeal paraganglioma presenting as plunging goiter

Paragangliomas are uncommon slow-growing neuroendocrine tumors that may arise from the extra-adrenal paraganglia. Paragangliomas of the inferior and superior laryngeal paraganglia are known as laryngeal paraganglioma. Inferior laryngeal paraganglioma, which is also called subglottic paraganglioma, is very seldomly observed. To our knowledge only 24 patients with subglottic paraganglioma have been found. We present a 77-year-old mate patient who has been previously followed-up for cervical goiter, which has a progressive enlargement into the mediastinum, causing severe tracheal obstruction. The tumor was completely and easily resected via median sternotomy with collar incision and finally diagnosed as inferior laryngeal paraganglioma. The present case is the first subglottic laryngeal paraganglioma descending into the visceral compartment of the mediastinum in the literature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.