Carotid body paraganglioma showing multiple spinal metastases

ABSTRACT

Paragangliomas are rare and slowly growing pulsating hypervascular tumors arising from neural crest cell derivatives throughout the body. In the head and neck, they originate from the branchiometric family of paraganglioma, neuroendocrine tissue that lies along the carotid artery or aorta. Despite their propensity for locally aggressive behavior, metastases of the tumors are quite rare. We report an unusual case of carotid body paraganglioma showing multiple spinal metastases and demonstrated by spinal angiography.