• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.94-99
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• 2005

Paraganglioma is a neoplasm consisting of sympathetic neuroendocrine cells, which arise from neural ectoderm of extra-adrenal paraganglia. It often occurs in thyroid, carotid body, mediastinum, lung, duodenum, the retroperitoneal area and periaortic area. Malignant paraganglioma is defined not by the histological diagnosis, but by spread to regional lymph nodes or distant metastasis. Rare bone metastasis mostly occurs in the base of skull or spine, and even it rarely metastasizes to pelvis or femur. We would like to report two cases of paraganglioma; one in the subcutaneous fat layer that was mistaken for a vascular tumor, and the other in the retroperitoneal space with early bone metastasis.