Paragangliomas of the head and neck are rare, and most frequently benign, slow growing, and nonsecretory. The most frequent locations these tumors arise in the head and neck include the carotid body, jugular bulb, vagus nerve, tympanic branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve, and sympathetic chain. Here we present, to our knowledge, the second reported case of paraganglioma of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. This case is unique given the patient presentation due to ipsilateral vocal fold paralysis, which has not previously been reported, lack of previous surgery, and demonstration of loss of succinate dehydrogenase iron-sulfur subunit B expression. Laryngoscope, 2019.
Keywords: Head and neck; paraganglioma; recurrent laryngeal nerve; succinate dehydrogenase.
© 2019 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.