J Korean Soc Radiol.  2017 Oct;77(4):258-261. 10.3348/jksr.2017.77.4.258.

Primary Retropharyngeal Neuroblastoma in an Infant: A Case Report with Literature Review

• Lee J
• Kim ES
• Lee Y
• Lee K
• Kwon MJ
• Moon JH
• Kim HJ
• Yoon DY

• KMID: 2392125
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/jksr.2017.77.4.258

Abstract

Neuroblastoma is a malignant tumor usually occurring in children, which most commonly develops in the abdomen. Primary cervical neuroblastoma has rarely been reported. We present a case of primary retropharyngeal neuroblastoma with an ipsilateral lymph node metastasis, manifesting as a growing neck mass in the retropharyngeal space, in an 11-month old infant.

MeSH Terms

Abdomen
Child
Humans
Infant*
Lymph Nodes
Neck
Neoplasm Metastasis
Neuroblastoma*

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 An 11-month old infant with a growing neck mass at the left retropharyngeal space. A. US imaging of the neck mass. The initial US scan revealed a 2.0-cm, low echoic mass (arrowhead) in the left retropharyngeal space, inferior lateral aspect of the left lobe of thyroid (dashed arrow), and a 1.6-cm, mixed echoic mass (arrow) at the left lateral neck. B. The contrast-enhanced neck computed tomography scan. The axial image shows several enhancing masses at the left retropharyngeal space (arrowhead) and neck level II (arrow). C. Magnetic resonance imaging of the neck mass. The T2WI STIR coronal image shows high signal intensity masses at the retropharyngeal space (arrowhead). CE-T1WI shows heterogeneous peripheral enhancement at the retropharyngeal mass (arrowhead). D. 18F-FDG PET/CT axial image shows the dumbbell-shaped FDG uptake (arrow) in the left retropharyngeal space, and no FDG uptake in the left neck level II lymph node with post-biopsy necrotic changes (arrowheads). E. The gross image revealed an encapsulated, whitish gray firm mass, measuring approximately 4.8 × 2.5 × 1.7 cm. F. Microscopically, tumor consisted of small round tumor cells (black arrows) with hyperchromatic nuclei, and frequent immature ganglion cells (white arrow), in fibrillary background (asterisk) of neuropil (arrowhead). No schwannian stroma was identified. CE = contrast enhanced, 18F-FDG PET/CT = 18F-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography, STIR = short-tau inversion recovery, T1WI = T1-weighted image, T2WI = T2-weighted image, US = ultrasound

Reference

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