An unusual cause of chronic back pain: retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma

Jurčić, Petra; Budimir, Ivan; Nikolić, Marko; Ljubičić, Neven

doi:10.12968/hmed.2018.79.10.591

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Most retroperitoneal GNs are asymptomatic and nonfunctional, so they are mainly found incidentally by health examination or other disease complications (14), which agrees with our findings that nearly 66% of the cases did not have specific symptoms. However, patients can present with some nonspecific symptoms related to tumor-mass effects, for instance, abdominal pain and vomiting from compressing digestive organs, backache and scoliosis due to spinal deformity, dyspnea because of diaphragm muscle compression, as well as gait abnormality, weakness, and paresthesia owing to spinal cord compression (11,17,18). Among our cases, eight patients had abdominal pain and one patient had hand numbness and neck pain, which were in accordance with the tumor locations and sizes and can be explained by the mass effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary Retroperitoneal Ganglioneuroma: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 32 Patients

Xiao

Zhao

et al. 2021

Front. Surg.

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Purpose: To investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, therapy options, and outcomes of retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma.Methods: In this retrospective study, we collected and analyzed the clinical data of 32 patients diagnosed with retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma and admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from October 2012 to August 2019.Results: Among our 32 cases with retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma, the male-to-female ratio was 1:3 and the mean age was 35. Only 25% of the cases presented with abdominal pain while more than 65% had no specific symptoms. The masses could be found through physical examination in only five patients. Most of the tumors are located near the renal area. They were usually single and displayed an embedded growth pattern with diameters <10 cm, clear borders, and soft texture. For radiological imaging, the majority of tumors demonstrated soft tissue density with mild-to-moderate enhancement on CT imaging and showed hypoecho with moderate blood flow signals in ultrasound. No significantly abnormal laboratory examinations were found in most patients. Of all the 32 patients, 2 chose surveillance after biopsy due to difficulties in operation, while others chose surgical resection. The mean follow-up time was 15.8 months among 26 patients. The tumor remained stable in the surveillance cases. Residual tumors were found in four cases receiving operations with no progress and discomfort. No recurrence was seen in all patients.Conclusions: The retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma is a benign tumor without specific clinical manifestations or significant laboratory findings. Typically, it is shown as low density with a clear border and an embedded growth pattern in radiological imaging. The overall prognosis is good. Surgery is an effective approach with possible severe complications. Incomplete resection or surveillance can be considered for some cases where complete resection is difficult to achieve.

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