Carney triad in an adult with aggressive behavior: the first case in Korea

Carney triad is a rare syndrome of unknown etiology characterized by having at least two out of three following neoplasms: gastrointestinal stromal tumor, pulmonary chondroma and extra-adrenal paraganglioma. About 100 cases have been reported worldwide. We report a case of Carney triad in a 42-year-old woman presented with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor in the stomach and a malignant functioning paraganglioma in the retroperitoneum that was fatal five years after diagnosis. The gastrointestinal stromal tumor was diagnosed as intermediate-risk of aggressive behavior and diffusely positive for c-kit whereas the retroperitoneal paraganglioma was negative for c-kit. Genetic analyses showed no mutations of KIT, PDGFRA, SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD genes in both tumors. To our best knowledge, this is the first case of Carney triad in Korea.