Vagal body tumor (nonchromaffin paraganglioma, chemodectoma, and carotid body-like tumor) with cervical node metastasis and familial association: ultrastructural study and review.

A case of a vagal body tumor with a solitary cervical node metastasis is described. There was a remarkable familial association: a biopsy-proven paraganglioma occurred in two members of the patient's family and there was a strong clinical suspicion of a paraganglioma in two others. In a review of the literature, eight patients with metastasizing vagal body tumors and eight patients in whom the vagal body tumor was a component of multicentric presentation of paragangliomas were found. Only one other patient in whom there was a familial occurrence involving a vagal body tumor has been reported. Ultrastructural study of the cervical node metastasis revealed the presence of light and dark chief cells containing scanty, membrane-bound, densecore, neurosecretory-type granules. Atypical granules were noted in a few of the dark cells. Nerve fibers, synaptic vesicles, and sustentacular cells, such as occur in normal paraganglionic tissue, were not observed in this tumor.