Introduction:

Paraganglioma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor that emerging from the extra-adrenal autonomic paraganglia and it may occur in several parts of the body. Paraganglioma is also named extra-adrenals pheochromocytomas. Roughly 90 % of these tumors are benign and can be excised through surgery whereas 10 % of them are malignant and cause distant metastasis. Paragangliomas are closely linked to pheochromocytomas because they cannot be differentiated at cell level and often share the same clinical manifestations such as hypertension, episodic headache, sweating and tachycardia. The diagnosis of these tumors is important because of risk of becoming malignant, the implications of other related neoplasias and the possibility of making genetic studies to detect other cases in the same family.

Objective:

To expose about epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic tests and perioperative management of these tumors by a presentation of a clinical case.

Case Report:

Female 56 years old, clinical history of 2 years of uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes mellitus, who presented with headache, palpitations and feeling of warm. She was diagnosed with a pararrenal mass suspected of paraganglioma associated with catecholamine hypersecretion, confirmed by histopathology.

Conclusions:

The treatment of these tumors requires a more complete surgical resection possible since the prognosis depends. Surgical management of pheochromocytoma needs special perioperative requirements. The anesthesiologist must observe this surgery, establish the risks of the phase pre-intra and postoperative.

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