Paraganglioma in The Urinary Bladder: A Pitfall in Histopathologic Diagnosis

Paraganglioma of the urinary bladder is a rare neuroendocrine tumor which originates from the chromaffin tissue of the sympathetic nervous system. It only accounts for about 0.05% of all vesical tumors. Bladder paraganglioma may also present with non-specific symptoms which could easily lead to misdiagnosis. In this report, emphasis on the histomorphology and immunohistochemical profile of the tumor is stressed as the morphological findings could overlap with relatively more common urothelial neoplasms. Distinction from other tumors is of utter importance because of different therapeutic options. Here, we present a case of a 52 year-old, filipino, male, previously diagnosed with colonic tubulovillous adenoma, presenting with dysuria and hematuria who, after undergoing CT Stonogram revealed an incidental finding of a lobulated mass measuring 5.7 cm located at the anteroinferior portion of the urinary bladder wall.