Jugular Paragangliomas Research Articles

Radiotherapy for jugulo-tympanic paragangliomas (glomus jugulare tumours).

Sixty patients with glomus jugulare tumour, seen at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, over forty years, have been reviewed. The term 'jugulo-tympanic paraganglioma' is suggested as a more accurate name for these tumours. The following simple classification is recommended: Group I tumours (tympanic paragangliomas) are those with or without VIIth nerve palsy, but with no other cranial nerve involvement. Group II tumours (jugular paragangliomas) are those with involvement of any cranial nerve other than the VIIth. The method and results of treatment by radiotherapy are discussed. It is concluded that surgery and radiotherapy give comparable results in Group I tumours, but radiotherapy gives superior results in Group II tumours.

The radiological diagnosis of jugular paragangliomas—The value of computed tomography

The radiological diagnosis of jugular paragangliomas—The value of computed tomography

Spontaneous neurite outgrowth and vasoactive intestinal peptide-like immunoreactivity of cultures of human paraganglioma cells from the glomus jugulare.

The chief cells of paraganglionic tissues have morphological and functional similarities to adrenal chromaffin cells, and both cell types are derived from the neural crest. In the present investigation cells from two glomus jugulare paragangliomas were studied in culture. Approximately 50% of the cells from one tumor, and 7% from the other spontaneously formed neurite-like processes. Numerous granular and agranular synaptic-like vesicles also appeared in the process-forming cells. In contrast to findings with normal and neoplastic adrenal chromaffin cells, addition of nerve growth factor (NGF) to the culture medium had no major effects on proportion of cells with processes. Dexamethasone caused only a small decrease in process length. Culturing of the tumors also appeared to promote production of material with VIP-like immunoreactivity. It is concluded that the phenotype of paraganglioma as well as pheochromocytoma cells may be altered in vitro. Responsiveness to specific factors such as NGF or steroids, however, may vary for related tumor cell types in different anatomic locations.

Primary tumors of the external and middle ear. II. A clinicopathologic study of 14 paragangliomas and three meningiomas.

Paragangliomas (chemodectomas, glomus jugulare tumors) represented 15% of all neoplasms of the ear in the period from 1964 to 1975 at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Women in the fifth to sixthe decades of life were mainly affected, and hearing loss and tinnitus were the principal symptoms. Although most tumors had the typical histopathologic appearance, two neoplasms that were initially diagnosed as paragangliomas illustrated the problems in differential diagnosis. One of these latter two tumors had metastasized and was thought to represent a malignant paraganglioma. Retrospectively, both neoplasms were adenomatous tumors of the middle ear. For the remaining patients with typical jugular paragangliomas, surgery and/or irradiation therapy controlled the local tumor in 12 cases. Two of the three meningiomas occurring in the middle ear were preceded by or associated with an intracranial component. There were only four prior examples in the literature, excluding our one case, of primary meningiomas of the ear-mastoid region. Histologically, the features were virtually identical to the usual intracranial meningioma.

Tumors of the Temporal Bone

We have classified under the heading of of the temporal bone all neoplasms known in the past as tumors of the middle tumors of the middle and external tumors of the petrous and tumors of the mastoid process. All pathologic processes affecting the temporal bone, because of the variety of anatomical formations of the region, give rise to a group of clinical and pathological signs which may be considered as characteristic and constant. Primary and secondary are differentiated as follows: All new growths affecting, exclusively or preeminently, the temporal bone structure or the surrounding vessels, nerves, and muscles, as well as the ones penetrating into the temporal bone, are considered primary. Therefore, the primary are epithelioma and connective tissue of the middle ear, true cholesteatoma, tympanic and jugular paraganglioma, Fig. 1.—Scheme of a vertical section of the temporal bone, showing the subdivision in