EC Clinical and Medical Case Reports

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) comprise a group of rare tumors, especially when they are in the head and neck regions. Furthermore, it is unclear what is the optimal management for these tumors.

We present a case of an 80-year-old female patient with an asymptomatic swelling on the posterior neck, who underwent studies for pulmonary nodules that were present for more than 6 years. They were unchanged and negative for malignancy on bronchoalveolar lavage. A PET-CT scan showed indeterminate hypermetabolic subcutaneous masses within the posterior neck/upper chest on the right, as well as the anterior right shoulder region with the lung nodules suspected to be the primary tumor. The histopathology of the neck mass reported it to be a neuroendocrine tumor/carcinoma (NET/NEC). Initially, it was determined that it was a low-grade tumor, but later reported to be a high-grade Neuroendocrine tumor according to a Pathology report. The origin of this tumor was unclear, it was suggested to be a possible paraganglioma like medullary thyroid carcinoma or a neuroendocrine tumor of other origin.

Keywords: Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs); Paraganglioma; Chromogranin A (Cr-A); ITF-1; CT Scan; PET Scan

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