Paraganglioma of the bladder: report of a case

Paragangliomas are uncommon tumours that comprise less than 0.1% of all primary bladder neoplasms. Approximately half of the patients present the clinical triad of hypertension, haematuria and attacks associated with micturition. About 10% of vesical paragangliomas behave malignantly. This may be manifested as local invasion or metastatic spread, particularly to lymph nodes and lung. The best therapy remains total excision and partial cystectomy is considered adequate treatment for most cases. We report a case of paraganglioma of the bladder with extramural appearance in a 39-year-old man. Clinical symptoms were hypertension, dysuria and a well-defined hypogastric mass. One year after complete removal of the tumour, the patient is asymptomatic and normotensive, with normal catecholamine and vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) levels.