Malignant non-functioning retroperitoneal paragangliomas: a study of five cases by fine needle aspiration cytology, histopathology and autopsy.

The cytological findings, the histopathological analysis of tissues obtained by surgical exploration and autopsy of 5 cases of malignant non-functioning retroperitoneal paragangliomas are presented due to their extreme rarity in literature. Fine needle aspiration cytology of these rare retroperitoneal tumours is discussed in this study. Presence of hypertension rather than the chromaffinity denotes the functional status of these tumours. The malignant nature of these tumours is determined by metastasis rather than the histological pattern. Pain and intra-abdominal masses are the common presenting symptoms. Surgery is the only mode of treatment.