A gangliocytic patially glandular paraganglioma with lymph node metastasis

Gangliocytic paraganglioma (GP) is an infrequent neuroendocrine tumor usually with three elements as epithelioid cells, spindle-shaped cells and ganglion-like cells, which is generally regarded as a benign tumor. Only a few cases with lymph node metastasis have been reported. Herein, we reported a 47-year-old man of GP with distinct glandular component embedded in the spindle tumor cells in the primary tumor and the metastatic lymph nodes. The immunohistochemical profile was helpful to give the final diagnosis as gangliocytic paraganglioma. Here, we added one more GP case with regional lymph nodes metastasis. And particularly, there were small amount of distinct glandular component both in the primary tumor and the metastatic lymph nodes, which indicated that adenocarcinoma might coexist with GP. And GP should also be distinguished from carcinoid tumor, paraganglioma, ganglioneuroma, or GIST.