Well-differentiated retroperitoneal ganglioneuroblastoma in an adult

Abstract

Introduction: is an infrequent tumor of the sympathetic nervous system, intermediate between malignant neuroblastoma and benign ganglioneuroma. It is common in children and rare in adults.

Objective: to present the case of an adult patient with well-differentiated retroperitoneal ganglioneuroblastoma, of importance because it is infrequent.

Case presentation: male patient of 34 years. He presented pain in the left thoracolumbar region, sharp and localized, intensified with the movements. Later, other symptoms that motivated the admission appeared. In the physical examination, a tumor mass was detected in the hypochondrium and left flank, observed in the imaging tests. Subsequent to the surgical intervention, the result of the histopathological study confirmed that it was a ganglioneuroblastoma.

Discussion: the diagnosis of these tumors is based on the imaging study. However, histopathological and immunohistochemical studies allow accurate diagnosis. The treatment is surgical, because medical reports show that responses to radiotherapy and chemotherapy are poor in unresectable or metastatic tumors. Six cycles of chemotherapy with vincristine, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide were applied to the patient.

Conclusions: the relevance of this case is given by the well-differentiated retroperitoneal ganglioneuroblastoma is a rare tumor in adults. In this case it was not possible to resect the ganglioneuroblastoma in its entirety and adjuvant chemotherapy was used, to which the patient responded favorably