Renal angiomyolipomas are innocuous benign tumours which rarely behave aggressively. This is a case of a 48 year old Malay lady presenting with right sided abdominal pain associated with a large right sided abdominal mass. She was diagnosed with renal angiomyolipoma of the right kidney complicated by inferior vena caval tumour thrombosis. She successfully underwent a radical nephrectomy and inferior vena caval thrombectomy using cardiopulmonary bypass and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.
A case of large adrenocortical carcinoma extending into the inferior vena cava and right atrium is reported. Computed tomography showed a large mass displacing the left kidney inferiorly with an intravascular tumour thrombus extending into the inferior vena cava and right atrium. Radical surgery under hypothermia and cardiopulmonary bypass was performed and the tumour mass, together with the tumour thrombus, was successfully removed. The presence of intravascular tumour extension alone should not be a contraindication to radical surgical therapy, as it is the best hope for prolonged survival.
Extra-adrenal paragangliomata are uncommon entities. They can be classified into four basic groups according to their anatomical sites, i.e. branchiomeric, intravagal, aorticosympathetic and visceral autonomic. Similar tumours may arise in sites away from the usual distribution of the sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia, e.g. orbit, nose, small intestine and even in the pancreas. We report three instructive cases of extra-adrenal paraganglioma which were found in unusual sites such as urinary bladder, thyroid gland and on the wall of the inferior vena cava.