ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Carotid paragangliomas are rare. Surgical resection is the primary treatment. However, when surgery is impossible, radiation therapy is an alternative potentially enabling local control with less morbidity. We report a case of good local control of an unresectable paraganglioma after external beam radiation. CASE REPORT: A 72-year-old-woman, had a 4-year history of right facial palsy associated with pulsatile tinnitus, episodic ear bleeding and ipsilateral hearing loss. Physical examination revealed a retro-mandibular and sub-mastoid pulsatile mass. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a large carotid paraganglioma involving the temporal bone. Since surgical resection was impossible, our patient was given external beam radiation therapy at a dose of 60 Gy. At 12 months follow-up, local control was good without significant toxicity. CONCLUSION: External beam radiation therapy seems to be a good alternative therapy for local control of carotid paragangliomas if surgical resection is impossible.
Subject(s)
Carotid Arteries , Paraganglioma/radiotherapy , Vascular Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Aged , Female , HumansABSTRACT
Les malades porteurs de tumeurs bronchiques sont souvent tres symptomatiques avec dyspnee; hemoptysie et toux entrainant un impact important sur la qualite de vie de leur dernier mois. Differents traitements ont ete utilises pour assurer le controle endobronchique de ces tumeurs: la radiotherapie externe; laser YAG; la cryochirurgie et la curietherapie endobronchique. Les auteurs rapportent ici cette derniere nouvelle methode therapeutique
