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Reminder of important clinical lesson
Case report
Non-functioning retroperitoneal abdominal schwannoma
  1. Sherif Sultan1,2,
  2. Nora Barrett1,
  3. Stephanie Curran3 and
  4. Niamh Hynes2
  1. 1Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Western Vascular Institute, Galway, Ireland
  2. 2Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Galway Clinic, Galway, Ireland
  3. 3Department of Histopathology, Galway Clinic, Galway, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Professor Sherif Sultan; sherif.sultan{at}hse.ie

Abstract

There are less than 150 cases of non-functioning retroperitoneal abdominal schwannoma (NRS) reported. Hormonal assay is crucial in confirming the diagnosis of NRS, as manipulation of a functional retroperitoneal paraganglioma will instigate an abrupt liberation of catecholamines, resulting in devastating consequences. We report the case of 42-year-old woman who presented with headache, night sweats and abdominal discomfort. Cross-sectional imaging demonstrated a retroperitoneal mass adherent to the aorta and inferior vena cava but biochemical testing of blood and urine was negative for metanephrines and normetanephrines. She underwent successful tumour resection via laparotomy, as location increased the complexity and risk of laparoscopic resection.

  • pathology
  • surgery
  • vascular surgery

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2019-233371

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors SS was responsible for study design, writing the manuscript and critical review; NB was responsible for editing/review of the manuscript, editing of images; SC was responsible for data collection related to pathology images and NH was responsible for writing the manuscript and critical review of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.