Primary malignant hepatic paraganglioma mimicking liver tumor: A case report

An extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma is also known as a paraganglioma. The present study reported the case of a 47-year-old female patient with an extremely rare primary nonfunctioning hepatic paraganglioma without any clinical signs and symptoms. A computed tomography scan of the entire abdomen region revealed a hyper-enhanced, well-marginated round mass located in segment 3 of the liver. A preoperative diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma was established and a left lateral hepatic lobectomy was performed. During the removal of the mass, the patient experienced extreme fluctuations in blood pressure. Analysis of hepatic and peripheral venous blood test results confirmed the increase of noradrenaline secretion. Postoperatively, the patient's blood pressure and catecholamine level returned to the normal range. However, three years after surgery, a plasma catecholamine examination revealed a high noradrenaline level. Abdominal magnetic resonance imaging scans revealed two metastases, located in the spleen and below the right posterior lobe of the liver, which were identified as malignant paragangliomas. Therefore, the patient was diagnosed with primary malignant hepatic paraganglioma recurrence three years after hepatic resection.