Paraganglioma of maxillary sinus associated with Addison’s disease mimicking a vascular tumour: A case report

Abstract

Paraganglioma of the nasal and paranasal sinuses are quite rare neuroendocrine tumours, usually hormonally inactive, presenting as nasal polyps with or without epistaxis. We present a rare case of a 23-year old male, with Addison's disease, who was referred from endocrinology department with a complaint of right nasal blockage associated with recurrent epistaxis. A provisional clinical diagnosis of vascular tumour was made, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) suggested hemangioma/inverted papilloma. However, biopsy reported a highly vascular tissue mimicking angiofibroma, further immunostaining studies with Synaptophysin and S-100 confirmed the diagnosis of paraganglioma. This rare tumour in the paranasal sinuses may mimic vascular tumour and can only be confirmed with histopathological immunostains studies. According to our knowledge, this is first case reported to be associated with Addison's disease in the English literature.