[History and epidemiology]

The development of knowledge of paragangliomas has been inextricably linked to the development of all fields of medicine. Throughout history, both knowledge of diseases and technical improvements in diagnosis have served to understand these tumors, although unanswered questions remain. From the XVIII century to the XXI century events sometimes unexpected and other times intensely sought have occurred that have helped to identify the characteristics of these tumors. These events have ranged from description of paragangliomas to their genetic diagnosis. The incidence of paragangliomas is not high. Nevertheless, the variability of these tumors in terms of their localization, forms of presentation, possibilities of metastasis or their hereditary component has been well characterized.