Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 6, 2022; 10(25): 9044-9049
Published online Sep 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i25.9044
Bladder paraganglioma after kidney transplantation: A case report
Lin Wang, Yan-Ning Zhang, Guang-Yong Chen
Lin Wang, Yan-Ning Zhang, Guang-Yong Chen, Department of Pathology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, China
Author contributions: Wang L designed and wrote this case report; Zhang YN helped in the research; Chen GY analyzed the data and guided the writing; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publishing this report in accordance with the journal's patient consent policy.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Guang-Yong Chen, PhD, Chief Doctor, Department of Pathology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 95 Yong’an Road, Xicheng District, Beijing 100050, China. 13120193382@163.com
Received: March 31, 2022
Peer-review started: March 31, 2022
First decision: May 12, 2022
Revised: May 25, 2022
Accepted: July 29, 2022
Article in press: July 29, 2022
Published online: September 6, 2022
Processing time: 147 Days and 20.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Kidney transplantation is associated with an increased risk of tumors in the urinary bladder. Among all the pathological types of tumors in the bladder, paraganglioma, which arises from extra-adrenal paraganglia and consists of chromaffin cells, is rare. Paragangliomas might cause severe clinical symptoms due to catecholamine hypersecretion or mass compression. Bladder paragangliomas are rare, especially those appearing after kidney transplantation. Here, we report a case of bladder paraganglioma developing after kidney transplantation.

CASE SUMMARY

A 63-year-old woman received a kidney transplant 12 years ago and took oral immunosuppressants (cyclosporine, mizoribine, and methylprednisolone) for regular post-transplant treatment. The patient felt no discomfort and she came to the hospital for a routine checkup. A mass located in the bladder was incidentally discovered by computed tomography, and she underwent surgical treatment. A 2 cm × 2 cm invasive mass was found in the trigone of the bladder and the mass was removed. The diagnosis of paraganglioma was confirmed by morphology and immunophenotyping. The patient had a good prognosis and is still alive.

CONCLUSION

Paraganglioma can grow in the bladder, which might cause no clinical symptoms. The diagnosis mainly depends on morphology and immunophenotyping. Surgical resection is an important treatment option for such patients.

Keywords: Paraganglioma; Urinary bladder tumor; Kidney transplantation; Case report

Core Tip: Paraganglioma is a rare neuroendocrine carcinoma with a morbidity of 2-8 cases per million. Paraganglioma in the urinary bladder is an infrequent condition, and it is even more rarely reported in kidney transplant recipients. The clinical manifestations of paraganglioma lack specificity. The tumor might cause severe clinical symptoms, such as hypertension and hematuria, or no symptoms, making an accurate preoperative diagnosis difficult. Pathology is essential for diagnosis. Although there is still no standard therapeutic consensus, surgical resection is an important treatment. Here, we report a case of paraganglioma in the bladder of a patient after kidney transplantation.