Aortico-pulmonary paraganglioma showing remarkable regression with cyclophosphamide

The treatment of choice for mediastinal paraganglioma is complete surgical resection. Its local recurrence, however, is very difficult to treat surgically because it usually involves important structures of the mediastinum, such as the aorta and trachea. We report a 64-year-old woman with aortico-pulmonary paraganglioma who developed local recurrence after complete resection. The recurrent tumor responded dramatically to single-agent chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, whereas it did not respond to radiotherapy or combination chemotherapy with mitomycin C, vindesine, and cisplatin. We therefore consider that single-agent chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide could be an alternative treatment for unresectable recurrent paraganglioma. Received: November 21, 1997 / Accepted: March 18, 1999